Donald Trump has made dancing a signature. The fist pumps. The hip sway. The YMCA send-off at rally after rally — more than 110 of them during his 2024 campaign alone.
The “Trump Dance” got its own Wikipedia page. NFL players started copying it. The Village People performed it live at his inauguration.
But when Nicolás Maduro started dancing? Apparently that was different.
According to The New York Times, the Venezuelan president’s “regular public dancing and other displays of nonchalance in recent weeks helped persuade some on the Trump team that the Venezuelan president was mocking them and trying to call what he believed to be a bluff.”
Two sources familiar with confidential White House discussions told the paper it was “one dance move too many.”
Maduro spent his final weeks in power putting on a show. In late November, he took the stage at a student rally in Caracas, bouncing to an electronic remix of his own voice. The track looped his words in English: “No war, no crazy war, no, no, no. Peace, peace, yes peace.” He jumped. He swayed. He pumped his fists while supporters waved flags. State media broadcast it all.
On December 22, he was filmed dancing with an AI-powered robot at an expo in Maracay. Less than two weeks later, he’d be in U.S. custody.
In late December, Trump gave him an ultimatum: resign and accept exile in Turkey. Maduro rejected it. Days later, the U.S. struck a Venezuelan dock it said was linked to drug trafficking. Maduro’s response? He went back on TV and danced to the same “No Crazy War” remix.
The White House was watching. The Times reported that social media is monitored routinely — X was visible on a screen in the war room during the operation to capture Maduro.
On Saturday, Delta Force stormed Caracas before dawn. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized and flown to New York. Video showed him arriving at the DEA office, walking past officers. “Happy New Year,” he said.
He’s now in federal custody awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges. His first court appearance is expected Monday.
Trump didn’t mention the dancing at his Mar-a-Lago press conference. He talked about oil.
“Dylan Goforth, executive editor of The Frontier, offered a simpler theory: Maduro ‘was stealing Trump’s swag and had to go.’”