Republican political war. Trump has disappointed his people. “Betrayal”
The US president is not concerned about the dissatisfaction of opposition Democrats with the military intervention in Venezuela and questions about its legality.
What is more important to him is the criticism from some of his voters who do not want to be fooled by the staging on social media. They interpret Trump's campaign slogan “America First” [Najpierw Ameryka] quite literally – and now they wonder what came of it.
Trump's growing interest in Venezuela even before Operation Absolute Resolve remained a point of contention among the president's loyal supporters. The Venezuelan leader also had his fans.
Former Fox News host and now influential podcaster Tucker Carlson has criticized the US military's bombing of alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. “We are close to eliminating Maduro,” he said in December, correctly predicting the developments. “But I don't understand why,” he added.
According to Carlson, the Venezuelan leader's economic policy is communist, but on the other hand, Maduro remains socially conservative. “It's very valuable to me,” said the podcaster and listed the Venezuelan's alleged merits. Maduro has banned abortion, pornography, same-sex marriage and gender reassignment surgery.
In other words: Maduro has the same values as conservative Americans. On Monday, Carlson sounded appropriately skeptical about the surgery. She reminds him of the war in Iraq and he “prays” that the country will remain stable.
Tucker Carlson, October 31, 2025Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
A split among the president's people
Trump's former chief of staff, Steve Bannon, also immediately saw the similarity to the Iraq War. The push for regime change reminds him a lot of “the Bush-era failure,” he said over the weekend.
Next was conservative influencer and conspiracy theorist Candace Owens. “The CIA, at the behest of globalist psychopaths, staged it another hostile takeover of the country” – she wrote on X.
This is opposed, for example, by podcaster and media entrepreneur Ben Shapiro, who praised Trump for the operation. “Who cares? This man is a communist dictator,” he commented on Carlson's remarks about Maduro.
Shapiro represents a smaller and smaller faction of the MAGA movement [Make America Great Again, Uczyńmy Amerykę znów wielką]who does not want to interpret the slogan “America First” in such a purist way as Carlson, Owens and others. This dispute recently culminated in a public exchange of views. During the conference of the Turning Point USA organization of the murdered activist Charlie Kirk, representatives of both sides accused each other of they are not true conservatives.
“We have a problem in the country”
The question of whether Israel's support lies in focus has come into focus in the interests of the United States and whether the US attack on Iran was justified. Representatives of the isolationist wing argued that Israel controlled the political establishment in Washington.
Some people are strongly against any foreign interventions and repeatedly criticize Trump for caring too little about domestic affairs.
There are also voices in Congress that confirm this. “We have problems at home and we should not waste our military resources abroad,” wrote Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who is considered a purist of the “America First” slogan. “Wake up, MAGA! This is not what you voted for,” he wrote on X after the attack on Venezuela.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned after a dispute with Trump over the Epstein files, condemned the attack on Venezuela as betrayal of the principles of “America First”.
In the background there is a crisis in the USA
The common denominator among critics is the demand that Trump focus more on inflation. Although the US inflation rate has remained stable at 2.7% in recent months, people are not feeling any improvement. According to New York Times economist Thomas Edsall, the average value of the loss of purchasing power of households last year was $2,250. [8,1 tys. zł].
Trump has so far had a mixed response to the issue praising its current policy and denying the existence of this phenomenon. “Affordability” [affordability] it's a “Democrat conspiracy,” he said in December. Meanwhile, his campaign rallies featured banners with the slogan “Make America Affordable Again.” [Niech Ameryka znów będzie przystępna cenowo].
The fact that the White House is following this dispute with great concern is evidenced by, among others: long post by Vice President JD Vance, who is considered a potential Republican candidate for the 2028 presidential elections.
Over the weekend, he tried to justify the operation against Maduro as consistent with “America First” principles. In his opinion, it's about fighting drugs on American streets and oil. “I understand concerns about the use of military force, but should we just let communists steal our stuff in our hemisphere and do nothing about it? That's not what great powers do,” Vance wrote on X.
A distinctive hat of the MAGA movementJustin Sullivan/Getty Images
Trump supporters
To allay fears of another long war, Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday rejected Trump's comments suggesting sending in ground troops. Ultimately, the U.S. president will have to rely on stability in Venezuela before he can abandon further military involvement. Anything less would ultimately cause confusion among his supporters.
In addition to loyal MAGA fans, they also include Trump's base Venezuelans in exile. And so they were angry with the US president after he revoked their special residency status. Maduro's arrest was initially welcomed. In south Florida, where approximately 30 percent population has Venezuelan roots, there were spontaneous street celebrations during which people thanked Trump.
However, the fact that the president does not support widely liked opposition politician María Corina Machado as the next president has dimmed some people's joy. Many have fled the Maduro regime and dream of returning. However, this is not possible if his leadership remains in power.
