Smoke rises from a dock after explosions were heard at La Guaira port, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Matias Delacroix/The Associated Press )
But unlike the strikes in the Middle East, the operations in Venezuela require additional U.S. involvement. Trump said Sunday that the U.S. will run Caracas, Venezuela, until a safe transition can occur, thrusting the U.S. into the most significant military intervention of Trump’s presidencies as he wages a campaign to "reassert American dominance in the Western Hemisphere."
"Trump has never been an advocate of regime change, but that is what he has on his hands now. Unlike the Fordow strikes, where Trump acted and then said, ‘The fight is over,’ he will not have that luxury here in Venezuela," retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, now a senior fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said in a statement Saturday.
Most Republicans have backed Trump’s actions in Venezuela, although some from the more anti-interventionist camp of the GOP have voiced skepticism, including outgoing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who said in a social media post Saturday, "This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end."
Meanwhile, Democrats have issued caution that the U.S. may be entangling itself in another complicated conflict. For example, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., claimed that the U.S. is on the path to another "endless war."
TRUMP TELLS SCARBOROUGH US WILL KEEP VENEZUELA OIL WHEN PRESSED ON IRAQ COMPARISONS
"The American people are worried that this is creating an endless war," Schumer said in an interview with ABC News Sunday. "The very thing that Donald Trump campaigned against over and over and over again was no more endless wars. And, right now, we're headed right into one with no barriers, with no discussion."
Trump announced Saturday that U.S. special forces conducted a strike against Caracas, Venezuela, and seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The two were taken to New York and appeared in a Manhattan federal court on Monday on drug charges. Both pleaded not guilty.
President Donald Trump, right, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speak to the media aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, D.C., Jan. 4, 2026. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, a Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) 2022 General and Admirals Program participant and a member of JINSA’s Iran Policy Project, said Trump’s actions in Venezuela are on the same page as the president’s "America First" agenda.
SEN TIM KAINE: TRUMP'S VENEZUELA STRIKE TRAMPLED CONGRESS' WAR POWERS; CONGRESS MUST STOP IT
That means holding other nations who mistreat their people accountable for their own benefit and for the benefit of the American people, he said.
"They're clearly aligned. This is exactly what he's talked about. … This is an accountability for them," Harward said.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
For those concerned about the U.S. military’s actions in Venezuela, Vice President JD Vance has attempted to soothe their fears. Vance leans toward the non-interventionist wing of the Trump administration and historically has backed a foreign policy doctrine that supports minimal interference with other nations' affairs.
"I understand the anxiety over the use of military force, but are we just supposed to allow a communist to steal our stuff in our hemisphere and do nothing?" Vance said in a social media post Sunday. "Great powers don't act like that."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed the U.S. did not require approval from Congress to conduct the strike since it wasn't an "invasion" and claimed actions in Caracas, Venezuela, were part of a "law enforcement function to capture a drug trafficker."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed the U.S. did not require approval from Congress to conduct the strike since it wasn't an "invasion." (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The Trump administration repeatedly stated that it did not recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state and insisted he was the leader of a drug cartel.
But lawmakers, especially Democrats, have called into question the legality of the operation in Venezuela, which was conducted without Congress' approval.
"This has been a profound constitutional failure," the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in a statement Saturday. "Congress — not the President — has the sole power to authorize war. Pursuing regime change without the consent of the American people is a reckless overreach and an abuse of power.
"The question now is not whether Maduro deserved removal — it is what precedent the United States has just set, and what comes next."
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-embraces-us-interventionism-venezuela-he-sets-sights-cuba-colombia-next