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Sen. Rick Scott didn’t mince words this week when he told President Trump exactly what to say to Venezuela’s tyrant: get out. Scott warned on national television that Nicolás Maduro’s days are numbered and that, if he cared about his own skin, he’d be on a plane to Russia or China right now — blunt talk that mirrors the hardline stance conservatives have been demanding for years.
This isn’t saber-rattling for show. CBS’s 60 Minutes laid out a stark picture: a $50 million reward on Maduro’s head, a growing American naval presence in the Caribbean, and U.S. strikes on vessels tied to narco-trafficking as part of a stepped-up counter-drug campaign. The facts on the ground make Scott’s admonition more than rhetoric — it’s a recognition that weak diplomacy for decades let a narco-socialist regime fester until it threatened our border and our security.
President Trump has already acknowledged authorizing covert CIA operations aimed at disrupting the drug flows and criminal networks that prop up Maduro, and American forces have taken lethal action against boats tied to smuggling. That escalation is exactly what you get when a president puts homeland security first; it’s also why our leaders in Washington should stop apologizing and start backing bold, strategic pressure.
Conservatives should celebrate Scott’s clarity. For too long the left’s obsession with restraint and political correctness handcuffed real action, while Venezuelan misery exported crime and migration right into our communities. If telling a foreign dictator to take a one-way flight out of his country helps save lives and stop fentanyl from devastating American families, then politicians who refuse to say it loudly aren’t protecting anyone. No vague multilateralisms — say what you mean and mean what you say.
That said, the push for decisive action isn’t unchecked or reckless. Senators on both sides of the aisle have reminded the White House that Congress has a role before any full-scale invasion, forcing votes and oversight debates that are healthy in a republic. Responsible conservative leadership means combining muscular foreign policy with lawful, constitutional safeguards so America acts like the nation of laws we proudly claim to be.
If President Trump wants to finish the job of defending our border, stopping the drug pipelines, and rolling back authoritarian influence in our hemisphere, he should take Scott’s advice and be plainspoken — tell Maduro to get out and make it clear there’s a new cost for running a narco-dictatorship. Patriots want leaders who protect families, not leaders who apologize for strength. The time for equivocating is over; stand firm, support our troops, and back the policy that keeps America safe.
