One of the ideas that Biden has floated to stem the spike in gas prices is to restart oil imports from Venezuela. That would require lifting sanctions that the United States has placed on the the country, run by thuggish dictator Nicolás Maduro. On March 5th, Biden sent a team to Caracas to negotiate with Maduro, who promptly touted the propaganda coup of the legitimacy that they had bestowed on him.
On Thursday's Morning Joe, Marc Caputo, a former Politico scribe who's now an NBC correspondent in Florida, reported on the possible reopening of Venezuelan oil imports. He stressed the need to sell the prospect of dealing with Maduro to the huge population of Venezuelan exiles in Florida. They tend to be about as antagonistic to Maduro as Cuban exiles were to Fidel Castro.
Democrats like to assume all the Hispanic communities will vote Democrat, but Caputo absolutely blasted Biden's efforts to reach out to the Venezuelan community in Florida on the Maduro initiative.
CAPUTO: We just have a very large Venezuelan exile community, and the Biden administration, and before that, the Biden campaign, and now the Florida Democratic party, they've basically done zero successful outreach, grassroots team-building to the Venezuelan exile community.
So, if you want to kind of turn the ship and start to negotiate again with Maduro, who by all accounts is a dictator, you have to have your political operation start to sell this to your own people, and your own base. And none of that spadework has been done by Biden, none of it's been done by the Florida Democratic party.
Caputo noted some Florida Democrats like Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (who's running for governor) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz have questioned this new direction. He added:
If you're going to have those international relations, you might want to also have your folks on the state side behind it.
And so far, I've seen no evidence that Biden, or Democrats in general, have done that. So right now this proposal, or these talks that Biden has done, at least in south Florida, has kind of flown as successfully as a lead balloon.
Joe Scarborough tried to sound grateful, but in bidding him goodbye, Scarborough thanked him for his "fascinating insights, particularly what is going on with NASA."
That was a reference to the issue of the American astronaut on the international space station shared with Russia, and potentially threatening statements that the Russians have made about the situation.
So, Scarborough was interested to get Caputo's "fascinating" insights on that. But not so much when it came to Biden's failures in Florida!
On Morning Joe, NBC reporter Marc Caputo's comments were sponsored in part by Liberty Mutual and Comcast.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
3/17/22
7:26 am ETJOE SCARBOROUGH: Marc, let's talk about another issue that's come up obviously. America, Europe, trying to get away from dependence on Russian oil. You, obviously, cover the beat in Florida. I'm wondering, what's the impact of the possibility of the United States opening up trading with Venezuela? Is that something that would be met with so many objections that it just wouldn't be politically feasible?
MARC CAPUTO: Well, it is being met with so many objections in south Florida. We just thave a very large Venezuelan exile community, and the Biden administration, and before that, the Biden campaign, and now the Florida Democratic party, they've basically done zero successful outreach, grassroots team-building to the Venezuelan exile community.
So, if you want to kind of turn the ship and start to negotiate again with maduro, who by all accounts is a dictator, you have to have your political operation start to sell this to your own people, and your own base. And none of that spadework has been done by Biden, none of it's been done by the Florida Democratic party, and a lot of Florida Democrats have come out against it. Nicky Freed, for instance, who's the agriculture commissioner, she's expressed opposition to it. I believe Debbie Wasserman Schultz has concerns as well, the congresswoman from south Florida. So, there is bipartisan opposition to this in south Florida.
Now, whether the policy is good or not, whether it's good to talk to your rivals, your enemies, whether it's good to try to get more oil out of Maduro and have Maduro release US hostages, well, a lot of people would say yes. But if you're going to have those international relations, you might want to also have your folks on the state side behind it.
And so far, I've seen no evidence that Biden, or Democrats in general, have done that. So right now this proposal, or these talks that Biden has done, at least in south Florida, has kind of flown as successfully as a lead balloon.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI All right.
SCARBOROUGH: All right. Thank you so much. NBC's Marc Caputo. We greatly appreciate your reporting. Some fascinating insights, fascinating insights, especially with what's going on with NASA.
