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President\u00a0Donald Trump\u2019s\u00a0military intervention in\u00a0Venezuela\u00a0will pose a fresh test of his ability to hold together a restive Republican coalition during a challenging election year that could be defined by domestic concerns like health care and affordability.<\/p>\n
While most Republicans lined up behind the president in the immediate aftermath of the stunning U.S. mission to capture\u00a0Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u00a0and bring him to New York to face criminal charges, there were signs of unease across the spectrum within the party. In particular, Trump\u2019s comments about the U.S. positioning itself to \u201crun\u201d Venezuela have raised concerns that he is abandoning the \u201cAmerica First\u201d philosophy that has long distinguished him from more traditional Republicans and helped fuel his political rise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the same Washington playbook that we are so sick and tired of that doesn\u2019t serve the American people, but actually serves the big corporations, the banks and the oil executives,\u201d said Rep.\u00a0Marjorie Taylor Greene\u00a0of Georgia, a former Trump ally who is\u00a0resigning on Monday, in an interview with NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Those concerns were shared by some who are not associated with the party\u2019s far-right flank.<\/p>\n
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a moderate who is one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the November midterms, said in a statement that \u201cthe only country that the United States of America should be \u2018running\u2019 is the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those comments reflect the sensitive dynamics between Trump and his fellow Republicans at the outset of an election year in which their party risks losing control of Congress. While the president\u2019s dominance remains undisputed, the ironclad grip that he has held over the party has faced unusual challenges in recent months. Blocs of Republicans have banded together to pressure Trump to release the\u00a0Jeffrey Epstein files. Others have been vocal in encouraging Trump to take\u00a0concerns about affordability\u00a0more seriously.<\/p>\n
Few issues are as central to Trump\u2019s political brand as ensuring that the U.S. does not get entangled in seemingly endless foreign conflicts at the expense of domestic goals. During a 2016 Republican presidential debate, for instance, he described the war in Iraq as a \u201cbig, fat mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
But on Saturday, Trump said he was \u201cnot afraid of boots on the ground\u201d in Venezuela if that was deemed necessary, and he framed his actions as prioritizing the safety and security of Americans. He articulated an aggressive vision of U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere, and he told reporters it was important to \u201csurround ourselves with good neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, much like the Iraq War, a president\u2019s early confidence after a dramatic military action can sometimes meet more sobering realities that drain domestic political support.<\/p>\n
In Venezuela, U.S. troops could be placed in harm\u2019s way again as Trump warns that more military operations may be in the works. An ongoing conflict could worsen the hemisphere\u2019s refugee crisis, something the White House has tried to tamp down with stricter border controls. In addition, there are questions about how much cooperation the U.S. will receive from officials still in Venezuela or how easily the country\u2019s oil reserves could be tapped to fulfill Trump\u2019s goal of extracting more energy with Maduro out of the picture.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s comments this weekend about revitalizing the oil industry in Venezuela are in line with some of the earliest critiques he made of the handling of the Iraq War. During a 2013 speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump said the U.S. should \u201ctake\u201d oil from Iraq and \u201cpay ourselves back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frustration with the handling of the Iraq War contributed to major gains for Democrats in the 2006 election and helped create the conditions for Barack Obama to be elected to the presidency two years later. Given the baggage surrounding those wars, Trump allies insist that the actions this weekend in Venezuela are different.<\/p>\n
\u201cVenezuela looks nothing like Libya,\u201d Secretary of State\u00a0Marco Rubio said on \u201cMeet the Press. \u201cIt looks nothing like Iraq. It looks nothing like Afghanistan. It looks nothing like the Middle East other than the Iranian agents that are running through there plotting against America, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton argued that the 1989 ouster of Manuel Noriega in Panama is a better comparison.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a successful operation,\u201d Cotton said on CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union.\u201d \u201cI believe, in the long run, this will be too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, amid some of the pushback about the U.S. taking expansive responsibility for managing Venezuela, Rubio suggested a more limited role. He said that Washington would not handle day-to-day governance of the South American country other than enforcing an existing \u201coil quarantine\u201d on Venezuela.<\/p>\n
It is not clear that any forceful, organized opposition to Trump\u2019s Venezuela policy is emerging within the GOP. Instead, many lawmakers appear to be giving the Republican administration some room and, at most, offer some warnings.<\/p>\n
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who faces a potentially challenging reelection campaign this year, called Maduro a \u201cnarco-terrorist and international drug trafficker\u201d who should stand trial even, as she said \u201cCongress should have been informed about the operation earlier and needs to be involved as this situation evolves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who often criticizes military interventions, did not specifically oppose Trump\u2019s actions. He wrote on social media that \u201ctime will tell if regime change in Venezuela is successful without significant monetary or human cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many Democrats denounced Trump\u2019s actions in Venezuela and the Democratic National Committee quickly sought to raise money by blasting \u201canother unconstitutional war from Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., rejected the administration\u2019s argument that it was combating drug crimes, saying on X that the White House is instead focused on \u201coil and regime change\u201d while seeking to \u201cto distract from Epstein + skyrocketing healthcare costs.\u201d Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the strike was part of an \u201cold and obvious pattern\u201d where an \u201cunpopular president \u2014 failing on the economy and losing his grip on power at home \u2014 decides to launch a war for regime change abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Trump #calm #GOP #hes #afraid #put #troops #Venezuela<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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