President Trump has rejected the status quo ante in American foreign policy. He has rededicated the United States to the support of Israel. He has withdrawn the United States from the disgraceful deal with Iran. He has tightened the sanctions regime with the intent of disabling the mullahs. He has shaken up matters with the North Korean regime in the interest of putting their nuclear weapons program on the path of termination. He has now come out for the removal of the socialist dictator of Venezuela. I could multiply the examples, but you can fill in the blanks. In each of these cases, Trump is right and Obama was wrong.

Yesterday President Trump went to Florida International University in Miami to give a speech on Venezuela before a friendly and raucous audience. I am unable to find either the text or the video on the White House site. I have posted a news video of the speech in its entirety below. It is a gloriously Reaganite speech; it is a great speech. In it Trump stands for freedom against the forces of socialism, tyranny and immiseration.

Trump notes in the course of the speech that National Security Advisor John Bolton is in the house. Readers of Surrender Is Not An Option will infer that he had a hand in the speech. He is an old-fashioned conservative.

Trump is forcing the issue in Venezuela. The United States is on the right side. It is leading in the push to get Maduro out of there. Events are coming to a head. This speech is part of the pressure intended to produce a constructive outcome. It merits your attention.

The New York Times has a good account of the speech here, FOX News here, CNN here

Quotable quote: “The twilight hour of socialism has arrived in our hemisphere and frankly in many many places around the world. The days of socialism and communism are numbered, not only in Venezuela, but in Nicaragua and in Cuba as well.”

One more: “America will never be a socialist country.”