By Getting Maduro, Trump Reminded Us That Tucker Carlson Doesn't Matter

Ian Haworth
Tue, 06 Jan 2026 15:00:35 -0800
Opinion

Donald Trump's assault on Venezuela and the arrest of its brutal socialist dictator is more than another event drenching the already oversaturated storyline that is the reality television show of "Trump Goes To Washington: The Sequel." With President Nicolas Maduro in custody — deliciously in New York under the feckless gaze of Mayor Zohran Mamdani — Trump's supporters are celebrating while his enemies across the aisle are condemning the action they themselves called for until approximately five seconds ago.

In other words, business as usual.

But there's something else worth celebrating here. While the response of Democrats is worth less than a promise of free buses in New York City, they're not the only people who are furious with Donald Trump. No, among those most enraged are the all-too-online influencer class who spend their time oscillating between spewing Qatari talking points, patting themselves on the back for declaring that war is bad, or questioning whether Western heroes such as Winston Churchill were actually, like, the bad guys, you know?
Updated: Tue Jan 06, 2026

Donald Trump's assault on Venezuela and the arrest of its brutal socialist dictator is more than another event drenching the already oversaturated storyline that is the reality television show of "Trump Goes To Washington: The Sequel." With President Nicolas Maduro in custody — deliciously in New York under the feckless gaze of Mayor Zohran Mamdani — Trump's supporters are celebrating while his enemies across the aisle are condemning the action they themselves called for until approximately five seconds ago.

In other words, business as usual.

But there's something else worth celebrating here. While the response of Democrats is worth less than a promise of free buses in New York City, they're not the only people who are furious with Donald Trump. No, among those most enraged are the all-too-online influencer class who spend their time oscillating between spewing Qatari talking points, patting themselves on the back for declaring that war is bad, or questioning whether Western heroes such as Winston Churchill were actually, like, the bad guys, you know?

In the aftermath of Maduro's arrest, Tucker Carlson took to the airwaves and argued that the Venezuelan despot — the man he previously and laughably celebrated as a social conservative — was captured as part of Trump's apparent mission to deliver gay marriage to Venezuela. Candace Owens condemned the arrest as "another hostile takeover of a country" by "globalist psychopaths," comparable to American attacks in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. As part of her continued break from ranting about Rothschild space lasers, Marjorie Taylor Greene also compared the actions to regime change attempts in Iraq and Libya, while Steve Bannon even complained that Maduro was being treated better than he was in federal prison.

Victimization, ladies and gentlemen, the calling card of the woke right.

But all of this is a crucial reminder that Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Steve Bannon, Marjorie Taylor Greene and so many others who spend their time screeching into the abyss of social media while propping themselves up as the true voices of American conservatism simply don't matter.

Yet again, Trump showed that — despite their own grandeur — they are utterly powerless when it comes to actual policy, with the strikes on Iran being another glowing example of their meaninglessness. In the weeks prior to the launch of an assault against Iran's nuclear facilities, we were told by these clowns and their compatriots that even looking at Iran the wrong way would bring about World War III, that Iran posed no threat to us whatsoever, and that any defensive action against the country whose primary policy is "death to Israel" is actually proof of how Washington, D.C. is controlled by the Jews. And yet, Iran was hit nonetheless.

They opposed the Iran strikes, and Trump did it anyway. They opposed an alliance with Israel, and Trump just spent New Year's Eve partying with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They opposed what happened in Venezuela, and Trump did it anyway.

Of course, this might not last forever, especially if Vice President JD Vance gets his wish and becomes the successor to Donald Trump and MAGA. But for now, we can rest assured that outside of the sordid world of social media, Tucker Carlson and his ilk have as much influence in the White House as your average 70-year-old Facebook user sending their grandchildren an obvious AI video of an elephant eating Tom Cruise and alongside their frantic question: "Did you see this?!"