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President Donald Trump campaigned against getting the US entangled in “endless wars,” but most Republicans have little interest in stopping his expanding military operations near Venezuela.
The Trump administration has now struck nine boats, which it alleged were smuggling drugs, off the coasts of South America, reportedly killing at least 35 people. And most Republicans are cheering Trump on.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, touted the value of dislodging Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power, a motivation that the president has stopped just short of confirming directly.
“It’s important to liberate Venezuela from the illegitimate narco-king who’s basically destroying that nation, because that’s a cancer in Latin America,” Moreno said.
Moreno, who was born in Colombia, dismissed the likelihood that Trump’s disclosure of “armed conflict” with traffickers in Venezuela could spiral into a long-term US military commitment: “It will escalate. But it will deescalate very rapidly, because that illegitimate regime will leave very, very quickly, probably within a matter of days.”
Republican lawmakers’ free rein for Trump in Venezuela is yet another show of high-profile deference to the president, an acquiescence that has defined this Congress. And even as many Trump allies still criticize former President George W. Bush for bringing the US into long-running wars in the Middle East, Republicans largely harbor no such fears of Venezuela becoming a similar quagmire.
Domestic and international data shows Venezuela not active in fentanyl traffic, with some cocaine movement. The vast majority of fentanyl is smuggled into the US via land ports — and typically by US citizens.
Still, with a few exceptions, most Republicans in Congress are content to let Trump go after what he says are narco-terrorist drug dealers trying to poison the US. They see a public aligned with them against drugs and little potential for blowback, either politically or militarily.
“We ought to just keep shooting them out of the water,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., told Semafor of the boats. She predicted Congress would steer clear, in part because it moves too slowly.
Only a handful of Republicans have joined Democrats in raising questions about the operations; two have even voted to curtail them.
“It seems to me sometimes that we’ve given up on ourselves,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. She voted with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., against military operations that Congress hasn’t approved.
“We’ve said, ‘Sure, Mr. President, you want to do tariffs, whatever,’” Murkowski added, in addition to “what we’re seeing in Venezuela. Even though this is just allegations, and there’s no there’s no authorizations.”
Trump has refused to rule out striking inside Venezuela or even a troop presence on the ground. He said last week that he has approved CIA activity inside Venezuela, though he declined to say whether that activity includes toppling Maduro, who’s seen by both parties as an illegitimate leader after last year’s elections.
“Wouldn’t it be a ridiculous question for me to answer?” Trump told CBS News last week. “But I think Venezuela is feeling the heat.”
Trump’s secretary of state Marco Rubio is a strong Venezuela hawk who has privately made the case to his former Republican Senate colleagues that the strikes so far are legal.
“Both on historical precedent and constitutionally, they have legal authority to do it,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. “You could argue that George Bush shouldn’t have sent troops into Panama — but he did, for regime change, so he got one. To this point, I’m comfortable.”
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Democrats and some Republicans question the legal basis for the boat strikes and the administration’s broader campaign in Venezuela.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said the actions in Venezuela are likely “connected to a very deep political priority for the Secretary of State,” adding that “there are definitely radicals out there who would favor sending US troops into Venezuela.”
Trump appeared to give the green light for more lawmaker briefings on Thursday, telling reporters that “I don’t think they’ll have a problem with it.”
But a person close to the White House told Semafor that Trump will coordinate with Congress “when Maduro’s corpse is in US custody.”
The administration has held a half-dozen classified briefings for lawmakers; it argues it’s been far more transparent than past presidents like Barack Obama in notifying Congress about military operations.
“All of these decisive strikes have been against designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores, and the president will continue to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly.
So far, those efforts have kept Republicans with Trump.
“Anytime you’re looking at putting our young men and women in harm’s way, I’m not comfortable with it. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to look at what the facts are and what the best alternatives are,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D. “Going in and having a military action might be the best alternative available to us, as opposed to doing nothing.”
Even so, senior Republicans can’t afford to let the number of disapproving senators grow much bigger than Paul and Murkowski. The votes are generally set at a simple majority, and the Senate’s 47 Democratic caucus members are largely aligned. (Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman was the only one to vote against a Venezuela-related resolution earlier this month.)
“I’ve got a lot of questions about” the Venezuela strikes, said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. “I like us to err on the side of getting authorization for the use of military force. This one’s a little tricky, a little more nuanced. It’s got a law enforcement angle and a military angle and a maritime [aspect].”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said lawmakers would like assurances about the “due process” afforded alleged drug traffickers who are targeted.
“Otherwise, we’ve got to really kind of pull back — and also think about the cost of the operation,” Tillis said, mentioning the possibility that spending on the border patrol could be a better use of money.
Even if a handful of Republican senators join Democrats in a vote disapproving of Trump’s actions, it’s less likely that the GOP-controlled House would also sign off. Still, the prospect is possible, which might force a Trump veto — something he has yet to issue this term.
Room for Disagreement
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., is preparing for an early November vote on his measure to prevent Trump from unilaterally declaring war on Venezuela. There’s no sign yet that he’s convinced enough Republicans to help him move forward.
But Kaine thinks even a few Republicans backing his proposal could force the president to rethink things. He recalled a similar resolution, on Iran, that Trump vetoed before changing course.
“He paid attention to the fact that many Republicans were saying, ‘You’re right, we don’t want to go to war.’ And he backed off,” Kaine said.
Notable
- MAGA commentators like Laura Loomer and Steve Bannon are also raising concerns about the president’s Venezuela plans, The New York Times reports.
- Current and former US officials told the Washington Post the channel the Trump administration is targeting “is not ordinarily used to traffic synthetic opioids such as fentanyl … nor are the drugs typically headed for the United States.”