Despite most Republicans being largely supportive of Donald Trump's campaign of boat strikes in the Caribbean, according to a Tuesday report from The Hill, a few GOP voices have spoken out against his administration's wider plans for Venezuela, with one source warning that such plans "backfire a lot."
Trump's Department of Defense has defended the boat strikes, which have been conducted without Congressional authorization and with no evidence of wrongdoing, by claiming that they are targeting drug smugglers bringing cocaine into the US from Venezuela. While the administration has denied the idea, it has been widely reported that the US is seeking regime change in the South American country, using the strikes as a way to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro into resigning from office.
In a bombshell series of interviews with Vanity Fair, Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles claimed that the president plans to keep "blowing up boats until Maduro cries uncle."
Trump on Monday said that it would be “smart” of Maduro to leave office, and has previously suggested that land strikes and military deployments are not out of the question in Venezuela. He also told NBC News last week that he believes Maduro's days in power are "numbered" and said that the Venezuelan leader "knows exactly what I want" without explaining further.
Speaking with The Hill, Republican officials expressed doubts and opposition to Trump's alleged regime change plans in Venezuela, citing past examples that turned into messy, long-term military engagements.
“I don’t want to have another Iraq or Afghanistan,” one anonymous GOP senator told The Hill, referring to past US efforts to oust Saddam Hussein and the Taliban from power in those countries, respectively.
Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican, told the outlet that he supported the boat strikes but was unsure about plans to go further and pursue regime change.
“I think we just have to be very careful when we’re dealing with regime change," Marshall said. "It seems to backfire a lot.”
