January 5, 2026 • 8 mins
Renner, a Republican candidate for Florida Governor, sides with President Trump's actions over the weekend. In addition to being a U.S. military veteran, Renner once lived in Venezuela.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Joel Malcolm for WJ and O dot com, the
Florida News Network Florida gubernatorial candidate on the GOP side,
Paul Renner, the former Florida House Speaker, over the weekend,
released a statement following the US capture of illegitimate Venezuelan
President Nicolas Maduro. He said, American security is never free.
(00:21):
It demands resolve, responsibility, and sacrifice, and bringing Nicolaus Maduro
to justice marks a decisive stand against tyranny and the
corrosive grip of narco trafficking that has destroyed American lives
through the spread of drugs and gangs across our country.
He also goes on to say that President Trump did
(00:44):
the right thing here. We're gonna let him elaborate now.
He is also a former Navy commander and I understand
spent some time living in Venezuela. Paul Renner, thank you
for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Great to be with you. Joel.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
All right, so kind of you know, this was something obviously,
this came as a surprise to most of us, including
Congress though, and you do have some Congress people, mostly
on the Democrat side, coming out and you know, condemning
the action. What are your what are your thoughts to that?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well? On that look, it's sad to say, and I'm
not saying there's not a Democrat in Congress I would trust,
but there's many Democrats in Congress I would not trust.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
And so I just I just think it's it was
the right thing to do.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Article two of the Constitution gives the president very significant
power with respect to foreign policy, and so I think
he did the right thing not to give prior notice.
I think that would have resulted, sadly in Americans that
were harmed and potentially.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Killed had they been tipped off.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Again, it was the right thing to do from a
national security standpoint, both in terms of stopping the drugs
coming into our country from Venezuela, stopping the gangs coming
into our country. As the President said, he emptied out
the prison, so he had mentally ill people that were
pushed into this country with a wide open border under
Joe Biden. But secondly, he is supplying oil, or was
(02:13):
supplying oil to Cuba, to Iran, to China, to our enemies,
and so removing that is very significant. And I would
just say this is that Nicholas Maduro was the biggest
threat to our national security in our own backyard bar none,
and so it was right for the president to remove him.
I applaud the military for their precision operation and getting
it done. And now is the hard part is making
(02:34):
sure we have fear and free elections. We get Venezuela
back up and running. I don't want us to be
there very long, but let's get done and hopefully a
friend in our hemisphere.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Now, as of right now, the now former vice president
of Venezuela has been sworn in as president. As I said,
at least for now, how do we know we can
trust that person.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, I don't know that we can.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
You know, it's a delicate situation and I'm obviously not
privy to the things that Marco Rubio and the president
and others in the administration are privy to in terms
of those communications. She was the vice president of Nicholas
Maduro and they were both elected in what is widely
viewed globally as an illegitimate election, as a stolen election.
That's not the reason to remove him, but just saying
(03:23):
that it's not, you know, an expression of the people's
will there in Venezuela. They elected someone else, so they
need to set up a new election rapidly so that
there can be a new government formed, and we can,
you know, excuse ourselves from being being there. I don't
want to see you know, American forces certainly there for
any length of time. We don't want to see a
(03:45):
repeat of Afghanistan, where you know, six months become six years.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I don't think that's the President's intent.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
But obviously we have to stop the country from devolving
into anarchy or chaos, and that is going to require
some American involvement over the short term.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Speak to the Florida factor, Florida, especially South Florida, and
we saw, you know, the the rallies over the weekend
in Durraul, the Miami Dade area, and you're even you know,
you're even hearing about stuff in other parts of the state.
But we have a lot of obviously Venezuelan Americans also
folks from Venezuela that are you know, that are here
(04:24):
looking forward to maybe potentially going back to their native land.
Speak to how it affects Florida and Floridians, Well.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
It's huge.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
I mean, Miami has become a gathering spot for people
fleeing communism that are the victims of communism that has
destroyed their countries, whether it's Cuba, Nicaragua, or in the
case in this case, Venezuela. Over three hundred thousand Venezuelan's
living in South Florida today, many of whom want to
go back and rebuild their country, and we need to
make sure that.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
We allow that path forward.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
But the people in South Florida, people in Miami who
I spend time with, understand that the promise of communism,
the promise of socialism, is a false promise. It leads
to poverty wherever it's been tried, and in the case
of dissenters, it leads them into prison and oftentimes their
own death by speaking out against a system that is
built on political and economic coercion. And it's failed again
(05:17):
everywhere it's been tried. Is twenty five plus years. In Venezuela.
He's destroyed the country, but it's a country with a
lot of resources. They will get back on their feet
with God's help and a lot of work. And I
look forward to that day when Venezuelans can return to
a prosperous country in a country that's allied with the
United States. Most importantly, because right now we have an
enemy in Venezuela. We need to make sure we have
(05:39):
friends down in our own neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Obviously, you're candidate for governor of Florida. Is there anything
that as governor you would be looking forward to doing
with regards to the situation.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well, look, I speak Spanish, a fair amount of Spanish,
i should say, and lived in Venezuela for six months,
traveled extensively through Latin America as a military officer when
I was in the military in the Navy, and so
as governor, we will certainly have a lot of robust
trade with Latin America. We need to bring critical trade
from China, countries that hate us, like China, into countries
(06:14):
that are friendly in aligned with US, and we need
to do that here in our own hemisphere. And so
I think there's a lot of opportunity, economic opportunity for
Florida specifically and to support those exile groups. As governor,
I will certainly be supporting the downfall I mean, not
the military removal, but to support freedom efforts to free Cuba.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
We've been going now going on.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Seventy years where Cubans have seen their country totally destroyed
and gone well passed where Venezuela went, and I'm hopeful
that this will be the beginning of the end of
the Cuban regime. And so as governor, I will certainly
be supportive of any efforts to restore freedom in our hemisphere,
Cuba being first and foremost, Nicaragua and other places, because
that's in the interest of Florida, of our national security
(07:01):
as Americans, that we not have people that are aligning
with our enemies around the world just an hour flight away.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
You said you lived in Venezuela six months. When was
that and describe, you know, what kind of things you
saw there.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yeah, that was in nineteen ninety four Hugo Chavez, who
was a predated Nicholas Maduro, but Nero worked for a Chavez.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So Chavez had tried a coup.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
He was put in prison and sadly the president at
the time released him as a good will gesture, and
of course he comes to power, takes over, turns it
into a communist stronghold, and the Nicholas Maduro succeeded him.
But the Venezuela I knew in nineteen ninety four was
a country that certainly had its problems, but it was
relatively speaking, it had a middle class, you know, it
(07:48):
had the riches of oil coming through, and that's all
been destroyed now by communism. And so the perspective is
one that Venezuela is a country that ought to be
a close ally the United States, that can be helpful
to us in terms of our energy security and in
many other areas. But most importantly, we need to make
sure it's not a clearinghouse for the Chinese, for the Iranians, and.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
All of those groups have cycled through Venezuela.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
And in fact, the Cubans were there defending Maduro. Cuban soldiers,
Cuban security forces were there when we came in and
were killed in the process of that extraction.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And so we have to realize that Maduro was a.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Center point, a focal point for a lot of the
bad actors around the world that want to take down America.
And so that's why it's such a good thing for
our national security that he's been removed.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
All right, Former Florida House Speaker and GOP candidate for
Governor Paul Renner, thank you for shedding some light on
this situation with your experience.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Thank you, Joel. Great to be with you,
Hey, Joel Malcolm for WJ and O dot com, the
Florida News Network Florida gubernatorial candidate on the GOP side,
Paul Renner, the former Florida House Speaker, over the weekend,
released a statement following the US capture of illegitimate Venezuelan
President Nicolas Maduro. He said, American security is never free.
(00:21):
It demands resolve, responsibility, and sacrifice, and bringing Nicolaus Maduro
to justice marks a decisive stand against tyranny and the
corrosive grip of narco trafficking that has destroyed American lives
through the spread of drugs and gangs across our country.
He also goes on to say that President Trump did
(00:44):
the right thing here. We're gonna let him elaborate now.
He is also a former Navy commander and I understand
spent some time living in Venezuela. Paul Renner, thank you
for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Great to be with you. Joel.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
All right, so kind of you know, this was something obviously,
this came as a surprise to most of us, including
Congress though, and you do have some Congress people, mostly
on the Democrat side, coming out and you know, condemning
the action. What are your what are your thoughts to that?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well? On that look, it's sad to say, and I'm
not saying there's not a Democrat in Congress I would trust,
but there's many Democrats in Congress I would not trust.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
And so I just I just think it's it was
the right thing to do.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Article two of the Constitution gives the president very significant
power with respect to foreign policy, and so I think
he did the right thing not to give prior notice.
I think that would have resulted, sadly in Americans that
were harmed and potentially.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Killed had they been tipped off.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Again, it was the right thing to do from a
national security standpoint, both in terms of stopping the drugs
coming into our country from Venezuela, stopping the gangs coming
into our country. As the President said, he emptied out
the prison, so he had mentally ill people that were
pushed into this country with a wide open border under
Joe Biden. But secondly, he is supplying oil, or was
(02:13):
supplying oil to Cuba, to Iran, to China, to our enemies,
and so removing that is very significant. And I would
just say this is that Nicholas Maduro was the biggest
threat to our national security in our own backyard bar none,
and so it was right for the president to remove him.
I applaud the military for their precision operation and getting
it done. And now is the hard part is making
(02:34):
sure we have fear and free elections. We get Venezuela
back up and running. I don't want us to be
there very long, but let's get done and hopefully a
friend in our hemisphere.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Now, as of right now, the now former vice president
of Venezuela has been sworn in as president. As I said,
at least for now, how do we know we can
trust that person.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, I don't know that we can.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
You know, it's a delicate situation and I'm obviously not
privy to the things that Marco Rubio and the president
and others in the administration are privy to in terms
of those communications. She was the vice president of Nicholas
Maduro and they were both elected in what is widely
viewed globally as an illegitimate election, as a stolen election.
That's not the reason to remove him, but just saying
(03:23):
that it's not, you know, an expression of the people's
will there in Venezuela. They elected someone else, so they
need to set up a new election rapidly so that
there can be a new government formed, and we can,
you know, excuse ourselves from being being there. I don't
want to see you know, American forces certainly there for
any length of time. We don't want to see a
(03:45):
repeat of Afghanistan, where you know, six months become six years.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I don't think that's the President's intent.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
But obviously we have to stop the country from devolving
into anarchy or chaos, and that is going to require
some American involvement over the short term.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Speak to the Florida factor, Florida, especially South Florida, and
we saw, you know, the the rallies over the weekend
in Durraul, the Miami Dade area, and you're even you know,
you're even hearing about stuff in other parts of the state.
But we have a lot of obviously Venezuelan Americans also
folks from Venezuela that are you know, that are here
(04:24):
looking forward to maybe potentially going back to their native land.
Speak to how it affects Florida and Floridians, Well.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
It's huge.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
I mean, Miami has become a gathering spot for people
fleeing communism that are the victims of communism that has
destroyed their countries, whether it's Cuba, Nicaragua, or in the
case in this case, Venezuela. Over three hundred thousand Venezuelan's
living in South Florida today, many of whom want to
go back and rebuild their country, and we need to
make sure that.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
We allow that path forward.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
But the people in South Florida, people in Miami who
I spend time with, understand that the promise of communism,
the promise of socialism, is a false promise. It leads
to poverty wherever it's been tried, and in the case
of dissenters, it leads them into prison and oftentimes their
own death by speaking out against a system that is
built on political and economic coercion. And it's failed again
(05:17):
everywhere it's been tried. Is twenty five plus years. In Venezuela.
He's destroyed the country, but it's a country with a
lot of resources. They will get back on their feet
with God's help and a lot of work. And I
look forward to that day when Venezuelans can return to
a prosperous country in a country that's allied with the
United States. Most importantly, because right now we have an
enemy in Venezuela. We need to make sure we have
(05:39):
friends down in our own neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Obviously, you're candidate for governor of Florida. Is there anything
that as governor you would be looking forward to doing
with regards to the situation.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well, look, I speak Spanish, a fair amount of Spanish,
i should say, and lived in Venezuela for six months,
traveled extensively through Latin America as a military officer when
I was in the military in the Navy, and so
as governor, we will certainly have a lot of robust
trade with Latin America. We need to bring critical trade
from China, countries that hate us, like China, into countries
(06:14):
that are friendly in aligned with US, and we need
to do that here in our own hemisphere. And so
I think there's a lot of opportunity, economic opportunity for
Florida specifically and to support those exile groups. As governor,
I will certainly be supporting the downfall I mean, not
the military removal, but to support freedom efforts to free Cuba.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
We've been going now going on.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Seventy years where Cubans have seen their country totally destroyed
and gone well passed where Venezuela went, and I'm hopeful
that this will be the beginning of the end of
the Cuban regime. And so as governor, I will certainly
be supportive of any efforts to restore freedom in our hemisphere,
Cuba being first and foremost, Nicaragua and other places, because
that's in the interest of Florida, of our national security
(07:01):
as Americans, that we not have people that are aligning
with our enemies around the world just an hour flight away.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
You said you lived in Venezuela six months. When was
that and describe, you know, what kind of things you
saw there.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yeah, that was in nineteen ninety four Hugo Chavez, who
was a predated Nicholas Maduro, but Nero worked for a Chavez.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So Chavez had tried a coup.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
He was put in prison and sadly the president at
the time released him as a good will gesture, and
of course he comes to power, takes over, turns it
into a communist stronghold, and the Nicholas Maduro succeeded him.
But the Venezuela I knew in nineteen ninety four was
a country that certainly had its problems, but it was
relatively speaking, it had a middle class, you know, it
(07:48):
had the riches of oil coming through, and that's all
been destroyed now by communism. And so the perspective is
one that Venezuela is a country that ought to be
a close ally the United States, that can be helpful
to us in terms of our energy security and in
many other areas. But most importantly, we need to make
sure it's not a clearinghouse for the Chinese, for the Iranians, and.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
All of those groups have cycled through Venezuela.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
And in fact, the Cubans were there defending Maduro. Cuban soldiers,
Cuban security forces were there when we came in and
were killed in the process of that extraction.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And so we have to realize that Maduro was a.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Center point, a focal point for a lot of the
bad actors around the world that want to take down America.
And so that's why it's such a good thing for
our national security that he's been removed.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
All right, Former Florida House Speaker and GOP candidate for
Governor Paul Renner, thank you for shedding some light on
this situation with your experience.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Thank you, Joel. Great to be with you,
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