Donald Trump indulged in two of his favorite pastimes during an interview with a right-wing influencer — praising dictators and trashing the current way the United States is governed.
The Republican presidential nominee appeared Monday on a livestream hosted by gamer Adin Ross on the alternative "Kick" platform, where he spoke approvingly of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro following the arrests of 2,000 demonstrators protesting last weekend's disputed elections.
"Venezuela right now is being run by a dictator," Trump said. "We're enemies with Venezuela. Venezuela was going to collapse, people could've gone back to Venezuela, they're in our country now. They've released tremendous numbers of criminals into our country. If you look at Caracas, it's known for being a very dangerous city, and now it’s very safe.
"In fact, the next interview we'll do, we'll do it in Caracas, Venezuela because it’s safer than many of our cities."
Maduro pledged Saturday to arrest even more of his opponents, but the Biden administration expressed fears that action could spark wider unrest. Leaders from several European nations have condemned the detentions.
The Trump administration had imposed harsh economic penalties against Venezuela during his presidency in response to documented human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, although the Department of Homeland Security warned that those penalties would accelerate that country's economic collapse and result in millions of migrants fleeing the nation.
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More than 7 million migrants have left Venezuela since an economic crisis began a decade ago, before the sanctions, and federal border authorities say they've encountered 800,000 refugees from that country since 2021.
Ross reportedly arrived for the interview in a Tesla Cybertruck with customized side doors showing Trump after he was injured in an assassination attempt. The gaming influencer said he intended to give the vehicle to the former president for agreeing to the interview.
He has previously hosted Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and other white nationalists, and he played a role in the arrest of fellow right-wing influencer Andrew Tate by disclosing that he intended to leave Romania before he could be taken into custody on sex trafficking charges.
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