What's REALLY Next for Venezuela and What the MSM Gets Wronghttps://pjmedia.com/sarah-anderson/2026/01/06/whats-really-next-for-venezuela-n4947951Covering Venezuela back in, say, August, when I had a feeling about what was coming but no one else cared, was difficult. Resources were lacking, and I often had to go with my gut. Covering Venezuela in January, so far, has been difficult because it's like drinking water out of a firehose — there's so much information out there, and I'd say 80% of it is either incorrect, biased, or a lot more nuanced than people want to admit.
Suddenly, everyone in the MSM — and even some in conservative media, I hate to say — is an expert on a country they thought little about until recently, which results in a lot of chaos and disinformation in the news. We joke about these leftist protesters trading in their "Free Palestine" flags and posters for "Free Nicolás Maduro" ones, but the truth is that the pundits and reporters often do the same thing.
Marco Rubio summed it up when he appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday and said that "most of the 'experts' people have on television, I watch these experts and it's clown hour. These are people that have focused their entire career on the Middle East or some other part of the world because that's where all the action was. Very few of them know anything about Venezuela or the Western Hemisphere."
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Myth 1: The United States endorses or is legitimizing Delcy Rodríguez.
Earlier this week, the Maduro regime swore in "Vice President" Delcy Rodríguez as interim president. Rubio has been in touch with her, and Trump has said she's being cooperative and willing to work with him, but has warned that "if she doesn't do what's right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro."
Somehow, many in the media have taken this and run with it as a ringing endorsement, as if having her in power is the endgame assuming she cooperates with the United States. It is not.
I can promise you that the Donald Trump administration will never recognize Delcy Rodríguez as president of Venezuela in any way, shape, or form.
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Myth 2. The Trump Administration is snubbing María Corina Machado and sidelining the opposition.
When asked about opposition leader Machado, Trump has come across as dismissive this week. He said he likes her very much but that she doesn't have the respect or popularity required to take over right now and couldn't win an election without his help.
Even Rubio, who has known Machado for many years and has supported her through many ups and downs, who reportedly speaks to her regularly, and who has written and said so many nice things about her, including referring to her as Venezuela's "Iron Lady," has, on the surface, kind of brushed her aside.
Many in the media have decided that the Trump administration does not take Machado seriously. That couldn't be further from the truth. I'll even go out on a limb and say they're quietly paving the way for her to become president in the future.
Venezuela will be going through months of transition from Dictator Maduro & His Corrupticrats to, hopefully, a stable and less tyrannous government. During that time, Maduro's VP will be utilized to make that transition less rocky, but her political future is likely to be brief.
