Venezuela's Trump Supporting Opposition Leader Finds Out - Reese Waters

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Jan 5, 2026 #venezuela #mariacorinamachado #fafo
FAFO Season moves to Venezuela where María Corina Machado cozied up to Trump only to be aired out on the National stage in the aftermath of Nicolas Maduro's capture. FAFO.

In the immediate hours following US forces bombing Caracas and abducting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Venezuela’s beleaguered opposition was ecstatic. But after US President Donald Trump expressed a lack of confidence in María Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition movement and recipient of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, and suggested he’d instead partner with Maduro loyalist Delcy Rodríguez, the opposition’s official channels were quiet for most of the day.

Then came a press conference from Trump. Asked whether Machado would have any part in the post- Maduro government, Trump said that he had not been in contact with her, and that while Machado was a “very nice woman,” she “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country” to lead Venezuela. OOf. The FAFO. Even her overtures towards Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu didn't help.

As of Saturday evening, neither Machado nor González has commented publicly on Trump’s remarks. Trump’s cool response to Machado may seem odd: the opposition leader is a vigorous supporter of the president, dedicating her Nobel Prize win to Trump, and even suggesting in at least one interview that Maduro had “rigged” the 2020 US election to Trump’s disadvantage. She gotta put in a call to Israel, if that won't work then nothing will.