Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Ballots, Dictators, and the Eternal Scream of “Stolen”

By now, the pattern should be familiar. Somewhere in the world, something dramatic happens—an arrest, a coup, a scandal—and within minutes Donald Trump is staring at ballots in Georgia like they’re connected by red string to a corkboard labeled VINDICATION.

This week’s entry in the ongoing saga: Nicolás Maduro, the longtime strongman president of Venezuela, is now in custody. And if that fact made you immediately think, Wait… wasn’t Venezuela one of the countries Trump accused of manipulating the 2020 U.S. election?—congratulations, you are paying attention.

Trump, of course, never stopped screaming that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Not paused. Not softened. Just full-volume grievance, four years running. Courts rejected it. Audits debunked it. Officials from both parties contradicted it. But facts, as we’ve learned, are no match for a man who treats losing like a clerical error that can be fixed if he just keeps yelling.

Now enter Maduro.

The Convenient Villain Returns

Back in the fever-dream days of post-2020 conspiracy theories, Venezuela was floated as one of the shadowy foreign actors that somehow—through vibes, algorithms, or mystical ballot sorcery—helped rig the U.S. election against Trump. These claims were repeatedly debunked, dismissed in court, and laughed out of serious conversation. But conspiracy theories don’t die; they just wait patiently for a new headline to climb into.

So now that Maduro is in custody, the question practically asks itself: will Trump finally get his long-awaited confession? Will there be a moment—perhaps televised, preferably dramatic—where Maduro sighs and says, “Yes, Donald, we did it. We manipulated the ballots in Georgia. Please forgive us.”

Because if that happens—never mind reality, evidence, or jurisdiction—Trump finally gets what he’s wanted all along: a foreign villain to justify his domestic obsession.

Ballots as Emotional Support Objects

Trump’s fixation on Georgia ballots has taken on an almost spiritual quality. These aren’t pieces of paper anymore; they’re sacred relics. Proof that the universe wronged him. Evidence that democracy malfunctioned, not because voters chose otherwise, but because something unnatural intervened.

And if Maduro can be cast as that unnatural force? Even better.

Never mind that elections are run by states. Never mind that there’s no mechanism—legal or constitutional—that allows a president to “seize ballots” years after the fact. Never mind that confessions extracted from foreign detainees are not admissible proof of anything other than desperation.

What matters is the narrative: I was right all along.

Authoritarian Logic, Imported and Domestic

Here’s where the connection really snaps into focus.

Authoritarians don’t lose elections. They are robbed of them. If the people vote against you, the people are wrong. If the math doesn’t work in your favor, the math is corrupt. If institutions contradict you, the institutions must be captured, purged, or ignored.

That’s not a Venezuelan problem. That’s a strongman problem.

We’re told to recoil in horror at sham elections abroad while casually entertaining the idea that maybe, just maybe, a foreign dictator secretly controlled American ballots—and that exposing this fantasy might somehow justify tighter control over future elections. Including, say, 2026.

Create the crime. Extract the story. Use the story to seize the system.

It’s not subtle. It’s not new. It’s just usually something we pretend only happens “over there.”

The Real Endgame

Let’s be honest. No confession from Maduro is coming that validates Trump’s claims. No evidence exists that Venezuela manipulated the 2020 election. And no amount of yelling at ballots will change that.

But that may not be the point.

The point is keeping the grievance alive. Keeping doubt in circulation. Keeping the idea floating that elections are only legitimate when he wins—and suspicious when he doesn’t. Because once enough people believe that, you don’t need proof anymore. You just need power.

So no, it’s not just you seeing the connection. The connection is the worldview. The belief that democracy is conditional, truth is negotiable, and losing is impossible unless someone else cheated.

Ballots in Georgia. A dictator in custody. A grievance that refuses to die.

Different headlines. Same story.