Martina Navratilova under fire for calling Trump 'insane' and 'serial criminal' after Venezuela strikes

Women's tennis legend Martina Navratilova garnered scrutiny for continued comments about the recent U.S. military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and its aftermath. 

After expressing support for criminal sanctions against U.S. oil companies that try to take oil from Venezuela and suggesting the recent U.S. intervention was "pillaging" in a series of posts on Saturday, Navratilova took aim directly at President Donald Trump. 

"He is absolutely insane. Not to mention this is completely illegal," Navratilova wrote on X in response to a clip of Trump telling Fox News, "This incredible thing last night... We have to do it again. We can do it again, too. Nobody can stop us." 

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Navratilova later responded to the clip again, writing, "He wants to be the king of the WORLD!"

In another post, Navratilova doubled down on her claims that Trump is committing criminal acts with the Venezuela intervention. 

"Peace president my a--! Trump is breaking more laws than all the previous presidents combined. A serial criminal on so many different fronts!" Navratilova wrote in a response to a New York Times editorial. 

The tennis legend's comments drew mixed responses on social media, with many criticisms.

"Please go back to playing and talking about games. You have no credibility as a political pundit. Sit down," one X user wrote. 

One user wrote, "You need to stick to tennis as you have no clue about politics." 

Another user joked that Navratilova has Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).

"TDS is strong with you. Stick to talking about hitting a furry ball with a stick net," the user wrote. 

One user rebuffed Navratilova's claim that Trump's strikes were illegal, and pointed to the tennis star's background of leaving the former Czechoslovakia to escape a totalitarian communist government. 

"Not it’s not lol," the user wrote referencing Navratilova's ‘illegal’ claim. "It’s a shame y’all hate Trump more than you love your fellow man. Again why did you leave your country?"

Navratilova has said she left her homeland in 1975, citing her experience up under Soviet rule, resenting the limitations on personal liberties. 

KAMALA HARRIS BLASTS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S CAPTURE OF VENEZUELA’S MADURO AS ‘UNLAWFUL AND UNWISE’

Many Venezuelans have celebrated the U.S. seizure of Maduro, who had also limited personal liberties during his rule, as humanitarian concerns grew among the nation's people. He is also regarded by the U.S. and much of the world as an illegitimate leader due to suspicions about the way the 2024 election was carried out.

However, Navratilova has instead compared Trump to her home country's authoritarian rule in the past, as seen in the tennis legend's pinned post on X.

"I lived in a totalitarian authoritarian country growing up and I will not vote for that now or ever," she wrote in October 2024, referencing Trump. 

Still, Navratilova has supported Trump's stance on at least one big issue of protecting women's sports and spaces from biological males, which has earned her praise and support from conservatives. Navratilova is considered an ally of conservative influencer Riley Gaines, XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey, and has come to the defense of "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling over the issue of biological male transgender people invading women's spaces. 

Navratilova has also joined a coalition, alongside Gaines, of athletes, signing a letter condemning the Iranian regime for its death sentence of boxing champion Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, in November.

Still, Navratilova has regularly expressed staunch opposition to Trump and Republicans in recent years on seemingly every other issue, including Venezuela. 

On Saturday, Navratilova praised a post on X suggesting the sanctions, writing "love it" in response to journalist Lauren Windsor's post that read, "Any American oil company that expropriates oil from Venezuela should be sanctioned by the International Criminal Court."

She later wrote, "Holding a country hostage while pillaging its natural resources. Next stop- either Greenland or Nigeria," in response to a thread that included a report about Wall Street firm officials in the finance, energy and defense sectors visiting Venezuela after the recent strikes.

Maduro, who was elected in 2013 after serving as Hugo Chavez's vice president, is facing charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the U.S.

While several congressional Democrats have come out in force to condemn the operation to capture Maduro and his wife, some other Democrats have broken from the pack to applaud the action, including Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.., and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.

Meanwhile, Venezuelans in Miami, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Madrid, donned Venezuela’s national colors and waved flags hours after Trump announced that Maduro and his wife had been flown out of the country following the overnight U.S. military operation.

In Miami, Venezuelans danced and cheered, with celebrations also taking place outside Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Fla. In Doral, Fla., revelers chanted "Liberty!" and draped Venezuelan flags over their shoulders.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Navratilova's speaking engagement inbox for a response to the social media criticisms against her. 

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