Ex-Illinois candidate sides with Vance after Duckworth–Rubio clash

By Catrina Barker | The Center Square contributor
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, is facing fresh criticism after Vice President J.D. Vance likened her heated exchange with Secretary of State Marco Rubio over Venezuela policy to “watching Forrest Gump argue with Isaac Newton,” a comparison that has now been echoed by a former Illinois congressional candidate and Nicaragua immigrant who says Duckworth is undermining U.S. national security.

Ray Estrada, a Nicaragua immigrant and former Republican congressional candidate in Illinois, said Duckworth’s aggressive questioning of Rubio during a Senate hearing ignored what he views as the broader geopolitical stakes of U.S. action in Venezuela and Latin America.

“It’s pretty amazing and shocking that members of the Senate are attacking what happened instead of celebrating it,” Estrada said. “She keeps focusing on the Alien Enemies Act and insisting there has to be a formal war for it to apply. That’s simply not true. You don’t need a declared war to invoke it, a predatory incursion into the United States qualifies, and that’s exactly what was happening. This was a well-planned, organized invasion, with people coming in by the thousands and posing a direct threat to national security and the American people.”

In a recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Duckworth challenged Rubio over the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, arguing it is a wartime power historically reserved for declared wars and warning it could be misused against innocent people.

Rubio rejected that claim, saying transnational criminal and narco-trafficking groups pose an active national security threat to the United States.

“These groups have waged war on the United States,” Rubio said. “Anyone who believes that gangs that flood our country with fentanyl or cocaine are not threats to the United States is not living in reality.”

In a news release following the hearing, Duckworth accused the Trump administration of recklessly invoking wartime authorities and risking another “forever war” in Venezuela, while sharply criticizing Republicans for abandoning a bipartisan War Powers Resolution she cosponsored that would have barred U.S. military action there without explicit congressional authorization.

Estrada, however, framed the Venezuela operation as part of a much larger strategy aimed at weakening hostile foreign powers operating in the Western Hemisphere.

“This isn’t just about Venezuela or oil,” he said. “What Trump did has a ripple effect that weakens China’s foothold in our hemisphere and directly impacts countries like Cuba.”

According to Estrada, Venezuela’s collapse under Maduro enabled China and Iran to expand their influence through energy deals, intelligence infrastructure, and alliances with regional regimes. He argued that removing Maduro disrupts those networks.

“China controls over 60% of copper mining in the hemisphere and is building deep-water ports they control,” Estrada said. “There’s even a Chinese satellite positioned over Venezuela monitoring the Caribbean. People don’t realize how serious this is.”

Vance’s “Forrest Gump” remark, made in response to Duckworth’s tense exchange with Rubio over Venezuela policy, sparked backlash from Democrats and disability advocates, but Estrada said the uproar distracts from what he views as the far more consequential national security issues at stake.

“People actually said it was an insult to Forrest Gump,” Estrada said. “Because Forrest Gump had a good heart. The concern here is that Duckworth appears to be acting against U.S. national security interests. Why attack a policy that took out a narco-terrorist, disrupted terrorist financing, and did it with zero U.S. casualties?”

Duckworth responded to Vance, saying, “Petty insults at the expense of people with disabilities won’t change the fact that you’re risking troops’ lives to boost Chevron’s stock price.”