Since stepping off the escalator in 2015 to announce his first presidential bid, Donald Trump has signaled a departure from America’s traditionally hawkish foreign policy.
The US president even criticized some of his political opponents as “warmongers” and “war hawks.”
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But President Trump’s move to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and announce that the United States would “run” the Latin American country has drawn comparisons to the regime-change wars he rejected during his political career.
Some critics of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, which supported President Trump’s message of focusing on domestic issues rather than foreign conflicts, have criticized Washington’s march toward war with Venezuela.
Still, Trump’s grip on Republican politics appears to remain strong, with most members of the party praising his actions.
“To President Trump and his team, I want you to be extremely proud of what helped spark the liberation of Venezuela,” Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote in a social media post.
“As I have said many times, it is in America’s national security interest to deal with the narco-caliphate in its backyard, and Venezuela is at the center of that interest.”
Mr. Graham’s reference to a “narco-caliphate” appears to be playing on Islamophobic metaphors and encouraging efforts to liken U.S. attacks on suspected drug traffickers in Latin America to the so-called “war on terror.”
The US senator praised the recipient of the FIFA Peace Prize, which President Gianni Infantino handed to Trump in December, calling him the “American President’s Goat,” meaning “the greatest man of all time.”
silent criticism
Mr. Graham and other foreign policy hawks aligned with Mr. Trump were expected to support the move against Venezuela, but some Republicans skeptical of foreign intervention also welcomed Mr. Maduro’s abduction.
Former Congressman Matt Gaetz, one of the most vocal critics of the right’s hawkish foreign policy, mocked the “capture” of the Venezuelan president.
“Maduro will hate CECOT,” he wrote to X, referring to El Salvador’s notorious prison where the Trump administration sent hundreds of gang suspects without due process.
Liberal Sen. Rand Paul, who has been at the forefront of criticizing Congress’ war powers, expressed only modest disapproval of President Trump’s failure to seek approval from lawmakers for military action in Venezuela.
“Time will tell whether regime change in Venezuela will be successful without significant financial and human costs,” he wrote in a lengthy statement, saying he was primarily opposed to bringing “socialism” to the United States.
“But let us not forget that our nation’s founders limited the power of the executive branch to wage war without Congressional authorization in order to limit the fear of war and limit war to acts of defense. Let us hope that these lessons of peace are not forgotten in the just sense of relief that Maduro is gone and the Venezuelan people have a second chance.”
Early Saturday morning, Republican Sen. Mike Lee questioned the legality of the attack. “I look forward to learning what is constitutionally justified in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization to use force,” he wrote to X.
Mr. Lee said he was later informed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the U.S. military was executing a legal arrest warrant against Mr. Maduro.
“This action likely falls within the president’s unique authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. military personnel from actual or threatened attack,” the senator said.
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Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was one of the few dissenting voices.
“Americans’ disgust with our government’s endless military aggression and support for foreign wars is justified because we are being made to pay for it and both parties, Republicans and Democrats, keep Washington’s military machine funded and running,” Greene wrote in X.
Greene, a former Trump ally who is due to leave Congress next week after falling out with Trump, denied claims that Trump ordered the “capture” of Maduro over the Venezuelan president’s alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
He noted that Venezuela is not a major exporter of fentanyl, the leading cause of overdose deaths in the United States.
He also highlighted that President Trump last month pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, a convicted drug trafficker who is serving a 45-year sentence in a U.S. prison.
“Most Americans are outraged by regime change, by the funding of foreign wars, and by the fact that Americans consistently face higher costs of living, housing, and health care, and learn about tax fraud and fraud, while their tax dollars are consistently funneled to foreign causes, to foreigners at home and abroad, and to foreign governments,” Greene said.
Representative Thomas Massie, also a Republican, shared a speech he gave on the House floor earlier this month, warning that the attack on Venezuela was aimed at “oil and regime change.”
“Are we ready to accept a swarm of 25 million Venezuelans who are likely to become refugees and billions in American treasure that will be used to destroy and inevitably rebuild that country? Do we want to create a miniature Afghanistan in the Western Hemisphere?” Massey said in a comment.
“If that cost is acceptable to this Congress, we should vote on it in accordance with the Constitution as the voice of the people.”
Mr. Massey and Mr. Greene are mavericks within their party, but Mr. Trump’s risky move in Venezuela was a short-term success. Mr. Maduro remains in U.S. custody at minimal cost to Washington.
Similarly, when then-President George W. Bush stood under the “Mission Accomplished” sign aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln after toppling Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 2003, few Republicans opposed the U.S. war in Iraq.
But there is now near consensus across the political spectrum that the invasion of Iraq was a geopolitical disaster.
The fog of war continues to hang over Venezuela, and it is unclear who is in charge of the country and how Trump will “run” it.
The US president has not ruled out deploying “ground troops” to Venezuela, raising the possibility of a US occupation and new Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
“Do we really believe that Nicolas Maduro will be replaced by a modern-day George Washington? What happened in Libya, Iraq and Syria?” Massi warned in a speech to Congress.
“Previous presidents told us to go to war over weapons of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction that don’t exist. It’s the same strategy now, except now we’re being told that drugs are weapons of mass destruction.”
