{"id":1206,"date":"2025-11-25T12:52:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/?p=1206"},"modified":"2025-11-25T12:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:52:10","slug":"republicans-support-going-to-war-in-venezuela-but-wouldnt-mind-knowing-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/republicans-support-going-to-war-in-venezuela-but-wouldnt-mind-knowing-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans support going to war in Venezuela (but wouldn\u2019t mind knowing why)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/whitehouse\/54936185761\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_8387.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_8387.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_8387-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_8387-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_8387-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It is a truism by now well-established that many or most Republicans will agree with President Trump, no matter what. There are issues on which parts of his base will go sideways (like on immigrant visas) but they (and the legislators they\u2019ve elected to Congress) are generally content to clap along with whatever Trump is doing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might therefore find it mildly surprising that, in a poll conducted by YouGov in September, a plurality of Republicans expressed opposition to invading Venezuela \u2014 a possible action suggested by a build-up of American military forces in the area. More nuanced questions about U.S. involvement evoked more support (both from Republicans and overall), but in no case did at least half of Trump\u2019s party say they supported deployments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"min-height:633px\" id=\"datawrapper-vis-32H9r\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\" defer src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/32H9r\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" data-target=\"#datawrapper-vis-32H9r\"><\/script><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/32H9r\/full.png\" alt=\"Americans opposed intervention in Venezuela in September (Stacked Bars)\" \/><\/noscript><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>That was then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the weekend, CBS News published new YouGov polling, showing that most Republicans now support military action against Venezuela. A large majority of everyone else opposes it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"min-height:262px\" id=\"datawrapper-vis-6tw3k\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\" defer src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/6tw3k\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" data-target=\"#datawrapper-vis-6tw3k\"><\/script><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/6tw3k\/full.png\" alt=\"Would you favor or oppose the U.S. taking military action in Venezuela? (Stacked Bars)\" \/><\/noscript><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>What changed? Two things. First, the more recent poll eliminated the \u201cnot sure\u201d option, forcing people to choose between support and opposition. Probably the most significant shift, though, was that Trump and his administration have more openly embraced the idea of launching military strikes, moving the idea from something abstract to something that has the president\u2019s potential blessing. With that comes Republicans approval. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before you accuse me of being cynical, allow me to point out that most Republicans also say they know little to nothing about Venezuela. So a chunk of Trump\u2019s party that admits to not knowing much about the country is also supportive of going to war with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"min-height:263px\" id=\"datawrapper-vis-S8KdF\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\" defer src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/S8KdF\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" data-target=\"#datawrapper-vis-S8KdF\"><\/script><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/S8KdF\/full.png\" alt=\"Many Americans don't know much about Venezuela (Stacked Bars)\" \/><\/noscript><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>That said, Republicans still align with the public overall in thinking that Trump should get Congress\u2019s approval for any action and make a stronger case for the need for action, something he hasn\u2019t yet done. They are less likely to think those things are necessary than are Democrats or independents, but a majority still holds those views. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"min-height:659px\" id=\"datawrapper-vis-5NDa9\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\" defer src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/5NDa9\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" data-target=\"#datawrapper-vis-5NDa9\"><\/script><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/5NDa9\/full.png\" alt=\"Americans (and Republicans) oppose Trump freelancing on Venezuela (Stacked Bars)\" \/><\/noscript><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>But it probably doesn\u2019t actually matter. If, as has been hinted, military strikes are imminent, Trump\u2019s supporters would be forced to choose between their interest in Trump\u2019s building consensus and his having already taken action. As noted at the outset, history suggests that this wouldn\u2019t be a particularly difficult choice after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However much the rationale echoes one the party has spent more than a decade rejecting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Rep. Salazar on Venezuela: &quot;We&#39;re about to go in &#8230; we need to go in &#8230; Venezuela for the American oil companies will be a field day&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/S8c3hsDxEv\">pic.twitter.com\/S8c3hsDxEv<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/atrupar\/status\/1993064427176816732?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 24, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Photo: Jets fly over the White House. (White House\/Flickr)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is a truism by now well-established that many or most Republicans will agree with President Trump, no matter what. There are issues on which parts of his base will go sideways (like on immigrant visas) but they (and the legislators they\u2019ve elected to Congress) are generally content to clap&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1206"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1218,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions\/1218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}