Latin stars who vote Trump: the left's scandal

Gabriela Spanic votes for Trump and exposes the pogre double standard

What is so scandalous about a Venezuelan actress exiled in Miami voting for Donald Trump? Judging by the reaction of certain sectors of the Spanish and Latin American left, everything. The star of 'La usurpadora', who lived through chavismo first-hand, has become the target of selective outrage for exercising her right to vote against the option dictated by the pogre rulebook.

According to her supporters, the actress suffered the consequences of shortages and insecurity in Venezuela. For her, voting for Trump is not a contradiction: it is the natural conclusion of having seen chavismo from the inside. But her critics prefer not to see it that way. The problem, some analyses argue, is not that she gets political, but that she does so outside the approved script.

The same yardstick never applied to Spain's PSOE

Those who tear their clothes over Spanic's support for Trump are the same people who defend Maduro without ever having set foot in Caracas and forgive Spain's PSOE (the Socialist Party) for laws like the gag law or the amnesty. It is the "armchair pogre" syndrome: zero tolerance for anyone who breaks from the agenda, wide latitude for friendly power. Coherence is not their strong suit; taking sides is.

Telenovela fan networks, turned into political tribunes, demand that actors either stay silent or join the boycott. Infinite tolerance for their own opinions, zero for anyone else's. In the end, Maduro serves them for appearances and Trump for venting.

The actress may be wrong, but at least she has made up her own mind. Far more than can be said of those who condemn her for doing the same.