The political class and liberal media commentators are once again rushing to outrage, this time over President Donald Trump’s decisive action involving the arrest of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro. They call it escalation. They call it reckless. They call it unprecedented. They are wrong. What occurred was not an act of war. It was justice.

For years, the Maduro regime has pretended to act like a government but was nothing more than a criminal enterprise. Federal indictments and intelligence assessments have long made the case that Maduro and his inner circle were trafficking narcotics, laundering money, and conspiring with transnational criminal and terrorist organizations. These are not abstract accusations. The deadly drugs trafficked under his watch have poisoned American communities, overwhelmed our law enforcement, and killed countless U.S. citizens.

When a foreign leader is accused of directing or enabling criminal conduct that targets the United States, that individual does not enjoy immunity from accountability simply because he hides behind the title of “president.” (

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