January 05, 2026 09:59 AM UTC

Mixed Reactions As Trump Breaks, Buys Venezuela

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• by: Colorado Pols

Over the long holiday weekend, Americans got re-acquainted with the habit they developed during Donald Trump’s first term in office of waking up with the words, “What the hell happened now?” Trump’s military operation to arrest and remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from office has once again shocked the world with its audacity and seemingly cavalier disregard for long-term considerations, outraged Democrats and even a couple of brave dissident Republicans for its sweeping disregard of American and international law–and at the same time, prompted celebrations worldwide by millions of displaced Venezuelans who care much more about the fact that Maduro is gone than the details of how it happened.

The Denver Post’s Katie Langford reports on the response from Colorado Democrats:

President Donald Trump on Saturday said the U.S. is “going to run” Venezuela until a transition of power can occur and will tap the country’s vast oil reserves as part of a rebuilding effort.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement he has seen “no evidence” to justify the Trump administration acting without congressional approval.

“The Venezuelan people deserve to thrive under a democratically elected government. But the Trump administration’s trampling of our Constitution and unauthorized military action serve only to weaken U.S. democracy and make the world more dangerous,” Bennet said. “Congress must reassert its role in these decisions to prevent the president from his continued irresponsible conduct.”

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper and Reps. Joe Neguse, Diana DeGette, Jason Crow and Brittany Pettersen, all Democrats, similarly condemned the action in statements posted Saturday morning.

Gov. Jared Polis similarly expressed concern about another “failed foreign policy misadventure,” but nonetheless celebrated the fall of “brutal socialist dictator” Maduro:

Today is a moment to celebrate the ouster of the brutal socialist dictator of Venezuela, who has cruelly impoverished this once-prosperous country that sits on greater oil wealth than Saudi Arabia. I join our fellow Coloradans who have suffered so severely from this thug in calling for a democratic Venezuela where freedom and opportunity can again flourish. This is a time of great uncertainty, promise, and peril across dangerous political terrain as the regime’s Vice President and Minister of Interior seek to retain power with violence and repression. In July 2024, the people of Venezuela overwhelmingly elected as their president Unity Democratic Platform candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who succeeded the party’s candidate María Corina Machado after she was unlawfully disqualified from running. Now is the time for President-elect González to receive the support he deserves from the U.S. in cooperation with the international community and the people of Venezuela to assume his rightful place and powers as president. Venezuelans deserve to determine their own future and select their own government. Today, I stand with the Venezuelan people in Colorado and in Venezuela.

Unfortunately, Trump has already written off the Venezuelan opposition led by Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado as a viable successor, interpreted by some observers as a snub for winning the Nobel prize Trump imagines he should have received himself for not really ending the world’s wars. It’s difficult to predict what comes next, mostly because there’s no clear indication that the Trump administration has a plan for what comes next. Maduro’s socialist vice president remains in power for now, under the threat of further military action if the Trump administration’s demands to de-nationalize the country’s oil industry aren’t followed. The swift unilateral action to remove a head of state from power has led to speculation that the United States may resolve other international disputes similarly–speculation the administration has made no effort to discourage.

None of this is happening in a vacuum, of course, with Trump’s approval ratings headed for new lows, Americans struggling in an economy that isn’t making ends meet despite all the insistence we are in a New Golden Age, and Trump’s gangster management style turning the federal government into a shameless vehicle for settling personal scores. Trump is a master of overwhelming accountability with his daily assault on the boundaries of law and precedent, and has succeeded once again in changing the subject from his own compounding scandals. But even if this operation has the best possible outcome, the once again disregarded checks and balances that got us to that end should deeply worry every American who still cares about the rule of law.

In the worst case, the “President of Peace” has just bombed us into another quagmire! Whatever happens next, don’t touch that dial.