The action in Venezuela could be a test of Trump’s ability to hold the Republican Party together in an election year

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela will pose a new test of his ability to hold together a turbulent Republican coalition during a challenging election year that could be defined by domestic concerns like health care and affordability.

While most Republicans have lined up behind the president in the wake of the stunning US mission to arrest Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and bring him to New York to face criminal charges, there have been signs of unease across the spectrum within the party. In particular, Trump’s comments about the United States positioning itself to “manage” Venezuela have raised concerns that he is abandoning the “America First” philosophy that has long distinguished him from more traditional Republicans and helped fuel his political rise.

“This is the same playbook in Washington that we’re sick and tired of, and it doesn’t serve the American people, but it actually serves big corporations and banks and oil executives,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a former Trump ally who is resigning Monday, said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

These concerns were shared by some people not associated with the far-right wing of the party.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a moderate and one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the November midterm elections, said in a statement that “the only country the United States of America should ‘nominate’ is the United States of America.”

These comments reflect the sensitive dynamics between Trump and his fellow Republicans at the beginning of an election year in which their party risks losing control of Congress. While the president’s dominance remains unchallenged, his iron grip on the party has faced unusual challenges in recent months. Blocs of Republicans banded together to pressure Trump to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Others were vocal in encouraging Trump to take concerns about affordability more seriously.

Trump’s aggressive vision of American hegemony

Few issues are as central to Trump’s political mantra as ensuring that the United States does not become embroiled in endless foreign conflicts at the expense of its domestic goals. During a 2016 Republican presidential debate, for example, he called the war in Iraq “a huge, terrible mistake.”

But on Saturday, Trump said he was “not afraid to put boots on the ground” in Venezuela if deemed necessary, and described his actions as prioritizing the safety and security of Americans. He expressed an aggressive vision of US hegemony in the Western Hemisphere and said it was important to “surround ourselves with good neighbors.”

He remained confident on Sunday, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that his supporters were “very pleased.”

“They said this is what we voted for,” Trump said.

Read more: Maduro’s arrest by the United States divides Latin America, agitating Trump’s allies and threatening his opponents

However, as with the Iraq War, a president’s early optimism after dramatic military action can sometimes be offset by more sobering realities that drain domestic political support.

And in Venezuela, US forces could be hurt again as Trump warns of the possibility of more military operations. The ongoing conflict could exacerbate the hemisphere’s refugee crisis, something the White House has tried to quell with stricter border controls. In addition, there are questions about how much cooperation the United States will receive from officials still in Venezuela or how easily the country’s oil reserves will be exploited to achieve Trump’s goal of extracting more energy while taking Maduro out of the picture.

Trump’s comments this weekend about revitalizing Venezuela’s oil industry are consistent with some of his early criticism of the handling of the Iraq war. During a 2013 speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump said the United States should “take” the oil from Iraq and “pay for ourselves.”

Frustration with the handling of the Iraq War contributed to significant gains for Democrats in the 2006 election and helped create the conditions for Barack Obama’s election to the presidency two years later. Given the weight surrounding these wars, Trump’s allies insist that the actions that took place this weekend in Venezuela are different.

“Venezuela is nothing like Libya. It is nothing like Iraq,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on “Meet the Press.” It doesn’t look like Afghanistan. “It doesn’t look like the Middle East other than Iranian agents running around there plotting against America, okay?”

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton said the overthrow of Manuel Noriega in Panama in 1989 was a better comparison.

“That was a successful operation,” Cotton said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think it will be so in the long run.”

However, amid some criticism about the United States assuming expanded responsibility for managing Venezuela, Rubio suggested a more limited role. He said Washington would not deal with the day-to-day governance of the South American country other than imposing the current “oil quarantine” on Venezuela.

There is not much organized GOP opposition to the strikes

It is not clear that any strong, organized opposition to Trump’s Venezuela policy is emerging within the Republican Party. Instead, many lawmakers appear to be giving the Republican administration some leeway and, at most, offering some warnings.

Senator Susan Collins of Maine, facing a potential re-election campaign this year, called Maduro a “narco-terrorist and international drug trafficker” who should be brought to justice. “Congress should have been informed of the operation ahead of time and should have been involved as this situation develops,” she said.

Even Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who is often critical of military interventions, did not specifically oppose Trump’s actions. “Time will tell whether regime change in Venezuela is successful without significant financial or human cost,” he wrote on social media.

Many Democrats denounced Trump’s actions in Venezuela, and the Democratic National Committee quickly sought to raise money by criticizing “another unconstitutional war from Trump.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., rejected the administration’s argument that it is combating drug crime, saying on X that the White House is instead focusing on “oil and regime change” while seeking to “distract attention from Epstein + rising health care costs.” Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the strike was part of an “old, obvious pattern” in which “an unpopular president — failing economically and losing his grip on power at home — decides to wage a war of regime change abroad.”

Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.