The MAGA movement is confused. The supposed peace-loving followers of Donald Trump who have spent the last decade disparaging George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden for their “forever wars” are suddenly being confronted with the fact that their leader is bombing, blockading and invading countries all over the world — and they kind of like it. Suddenly, they feel like themselves again.
This shift is entirely predictable. With few exceptions, the American right loves war. Sure, there was the original, isolationist “America First” movement leading up to World War II, which was heavily informed by a little infatuation with a certain fashy, right-wing German chancellor. But in most situations ever since, they have been reliable warhawks.
The right’s detour into a weird sort of pacifism was an uncomfortable fit for a movement based upon belligerence and insults.
The right’s detour into a weird sort of pacifism was an uncomfortable fit for a movement based upon belligerence and insults, made necessary because Trump — a natural warmonger if there ever was one — constructed his entire political philosophy around the idea that whatever previous presidents did, he would have done the opposite. When he entered the presidential race in 2015, the Iraq War was still a live issue and he naturally said that he was against it, a claim that was not true.
But Trump has always issued a disclaimer with those proclamations. “We should have kept the oil,” he has said, insisting the U.S. should seize oil fields wherever it chooses. In that sense, his followers have no need to feel any dissonance over Saturday’s military incursion in Venezuela. In fact, the president told MSNOW’s Joe Scarborough on Tuesday, “the difference between Iraq and this is that Bush didn’t keep the oil. We’re going to keep the oil.”
Despite the administration’s allegations and rationales in recent days about fentanyl and narco-trafficking, taking Venezuela’s oil fields appears to be Trump’s only motivation for his decision to depose President Nicolás Maduro and bring him and his wife to the U.S. for prosecution. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on the other hand, is clearly driven by his long-standing desire to eliminate leftist governments in Latin America and Venezuela as a stepping stone to his white whale: Cuba. Despite reports suggesting he has been given the task of “running” Venezuela, he seems to have little interest in that part of the job, writing off the operation as “law enforcement” and suggesting that the U.S. naval blockade will somehow lead to everyone cooperating with whatever Trump orders them to do.
The GOP establishment has predictably fallen in line, with the only dissent coming from the usual suspects such as former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Rep. Thomas Massie and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, all of whom protested the operation.
But nobody seems to be listening to them anymore. The person whose defense of the operation seems to most appeal to the MAGA base is White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who made the case to CNN’s Jake Tapper for straight-up American domination, saying, “we live in a world in which, you can talk about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world … that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.” Miller, too, believes the armada stationed off the Venezuelan coast will keep the country’s residents in line.
Much of this is explained by the new “Donroe Doctrine,” which holds that the United States has a right to pretty much do anything it chooses in the Western Hemisphere, including annexing countries, taking their resources and otherwise overseeing their affairs as a regional hegemon. MAGA podcaster Matt Walsh put it succinctly: “I totally support turning other countries in our hemisphere into subordinate vassals of the United States. That’s the very definition of an America First foreign policy,” while MAGA influencer Benny Johnson spoke for many Trump true believers when he tweeted, “This is our hemisphere. America will never be a socialist country. And Trump just reminded everyone we run this joint. Master move.”
According to Will Sommer, who covers the right at the Bulwark, this wasn’t the universal response among the MAGA faithful. When white nationalist Nick Fuentes celebrated the operation on Telegram by posting “TAKE THE OIL. THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE IS OURS,” many of his groyper followers rejected his opinion. Sommer was surprised at this reaction, since Fuentes is rarely a cheerleader for Trump, and quipped, “Perhaps it should be no surprise that someone who considers Adolf Hitler ‘cool’ would want to engage in aggressive, ultimately self-defeating wars.”
But what of MAGA’s big guns like Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon? They have preached the America First philosophy seriously over the years, with both denouncing the Iran strikes last summer. Carlson took the position that the operation may have actually been ordered because Maduro was a real social conservative who is against marriage equality. He doesn’t appear to be joking. Bannon supported the operation, but has expressed reservations about the U.S “running the place.” He said, “The bigger issues here people are concerned about is like President Trump saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to do boots on the ground,’ and last night, ‘We’re going to rebuild the country.’” Bannon has his finger on the MAGA pulse, and he may be right.
The one person who’s been conspicuously absent around the Venezuela mission is JD Vance, and that’s unusual. The vice president is usually right at the center of everything, applauding Trump actions like a trained seal. Since this is Rubio’s baby, perhaps he gracefully took a backseat. But considering his only statement on the matter, it seems more likely that Vance is keeping his cards close to his vest until he can determine if the MAGA voters he’s courting for a potential 2028 run will continue to support this assault. More than anyone else in the administration, Vance has staked his reputation on the America First philosophy, but he’s very adept at shape-shifting, so he will no doubt position himself wherever he believes it will most benefit him.
I would guess that MAGA will be perfectly happy to go along with whatever Trump wants. Most of them probably cheered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s crude comments about Maduro: “He f****d around and found out.”
But Republicans need more than those true believers to win elections, and they should be worried about that. A Reuters poll taken after the attack showed that only 33% of Americans approve of the Venezuela action, and 72% are concerned that the U.S. will get too involved. Even among Republicans, only 60% endorse sending in troops and taking over the oil fields.
The GOP had better hope the Venezuelans are able to set their country right under Donald Trump’s rule in record time, because they don’t have much running room before the November midterms. So far, the “Donroe Doctrine” is a dud with the American people.
Salon
