President Trump said Venezuela must be restored to “law and order” and economic discipline before any talk of elections, following the dramatic US operation that ended with the arrest of leader Nicholas Maduro.
Speaking to The Post on Sunday, Trump brushed aside questions about backing opposition figures — including leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado — saying none currently command the support needed to lead the country.
“I don’t think she’s got the support of the people that she has to have,” Trump said. “That’s all.”
He also said he was not concerned about the situation in Venezuela drawing the US into a protracted quagmire — as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pressed on whether he would support Machado if she won an election, Trump was noncommittal — arguing that Venezuela’s collapse makes elections a secondary concern.
“We should run the country properly,” Trump said.
“We should run the country with law and order. We should run the country where we can take advantage of the economics of what they have — which is valuable oil and valuable other things.”
He added: “She could only win an election if I did support her. But I like her very much.”
The president stressed that Venezuela’s economy is on the brink following decades of plunder and mismanagement by the socialists.
“The country is ready to be — it’s literally become a third world country ready to fail,” he said.
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