Americans Are NOT HAPPY With Trump's Venezuela Raid

What this episode is about

The discussion centers on American public opinion regarding the recent U.S. military raid in Venezuela aimed at capturing President Nicolás Maduro. Polling following the event reveals significant dissatisfaction with the action, despite a historical inclination towards supporting military operations. The conversation also touches on political ramifications, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's exit from the gubernatorial race, and emphasizes ongoing resistance to U.S. foreign policy interventions.

Key takeaways

• Polls show only 40% approve the strike; America craves success, yet Venezuela remains an enigma.
• While military actions typically boost approval, Trump's polarizing presence stifles the 'rally around the flag' effect.
• 94% believe Venezuelans should determine their future, rejecting the myth of 'saving' nations for profit.
• Trump's focus on Venezuela distracts from pressing domestic issues; Americans prioritize lower prices over distant conflicts.
• The oil connection looms large; a military operation masked as liberation raises more questions than support.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Dan Feifer (Host) · 7 min speaking
• Caroline Russen (Guest) · 5 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Venezuela, Donald Trump, Polar Coaster, Regime change wars
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Venezuela, Donald Trump, Oil, Regime change wars
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Democrats, Venezuela, Dan Feifer, Caroline Russen
4. 9:00 – 12:00: Venezuela, Oil, Democrats, Polar Coaster

Notable quotes from "Americans Are NOT HAPPY With Trump's Venezuela Raid"

• Welcome to Polar Coaster. I'm Dan Feifer. Today we're diving into the latest polling on the US invasion of Venezuela and the capture of President Nicholas Maduro, Tim Walls's…

  about Venezuela · at 0:13

• But if you are if you're Exa Exactly. Look, I've been as Ben Rhodess, I've been notoriously anti foreign policy for a very long time. So, why would we change that now? all right, let's get let's get to the polls here because amazingly.

  about Ben Rhodes · at 1:17

• Raid itself to capture. But they're not talking about what comes next, just the actual military operation. A Reuters poll found that about a third of Americans support it.…

  about Reuters · at 2:25

• Mentioned that Venezuelans who were marked for deportation due to the revocation of TPS could now apply for refugee status. Do you think that this is a play to keep that voting block in Florida and Texas intact for the GOP?

  about TPS · at 6:16

• Thinking. Same with Ruben Ggo. There's a bunch of people who are doing it. But there has just been this like Democrats have this learned helplessness around national security…

  about Democrats · at 8:23

• Voters. Standing strong makes you seem strong in the eyes of voters. There are a number of Democrats voting against the Iraq war, but this is exactly it is this mentality that…

  about Iraq war · at 11:01

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Donald Trump — Person · Central referenced decision-maker · 3 mentions · first at 0:46
  He is described as ordering/owning the Venezuela operation, claiming the U.S. will control Venezuela, and focusing on oil-company benefits—driving the political backlash discussed.
  Donald Trump has since said that the US will run and control Venezuela. For more in-depth analysis on what exactly happened, make sure you check out Pod Save the World. But Dan, we're here to.
• Dan Feifer — Person · Host · 2 mentions · first at 0:13
  He introduces the episode, frames the polling discussion, and argues Democrats should forcefully oppose the Venezuela operation.
  Welcome to Polar Coaster. I'm Dan Feifer. Today we're diving into the latest polling on the US invasion of Venezuela and the capture of President Nicholas Maduro, Tim Walls's decision.
• Caroline Russen — Person · Co-host / guest co-presenter · 2 mentions · first at 0:26
  She co-leads the conversation, asks about polling, and raises a question about TPS/refugee status and GOP electoral strategy.
  Exit the Minnesota governor's race, and as always, we'll wrap up by answering your questions. Joining me is Caroline Russen. Caroline, it's good to talk to you after a long break. How are you?
• Donald C. Murphy — Person · Referenced Democratic voice · 1 mention · first at 7:58
  Cited as an example of a Democrat speaking boldly against the Venezuela action, contrasted with more equivocal party responses.
  Yeah. another Discord user, Paul Murphy, asked, It seems to me that Democrats would be well advised to state their displeasure with the Venezuela invasion loudly and often, even if there are short-term negatives for some. What.
• Pete Hegath — Person · Referenced Trump-aligned official · 1 mention · first at 9:04
  Named as part of a trio allegedly 'in charge' of Venezuela post-capture, used to underscore perceived incompetence/ideology driving the operation.
  President of Venezuela, brought him here, has no plan. What's happening has put some combination of Pete Hegathth, Marco Rubio, Steven Miller in charge of the country. There is…
• Ben Rhodes — Person · Referenced figure (joke/aside) · 1 mention · first at 1:22
  Referenced in a quip about being 'notoriously anti foreign policy,' reinforcing the show’s self-aware framing versus deeper foreign-policy analysis elsewhere.
• Senator Ruben Ggo — Person · Referenced Democratic voice · 1 mention · first at 8:23
  Mentioned alongside Chris Murphy as part of a group of Democrats taking a clearer stance against the intervention.
  Know, has been very bold in how he's talked about this and forward thinking. Same with Ruben Ggo. There's a bunch of people who are doing it. But there has just been this like…

Companies & orgs

• Democrats — Company · Key political actor group · 5 mentions · first at 8:00
  The episode critiques Democratic hesitation on national security and urges loud opposition to the Venezuela invasion, referencing Iraq-war-era dynamics.
• Reuters — Company · Polling source · 2 mentions · first at 2:29
  A Reuters poll is cited to show only about a third of Americans support the raid, reinforcing the claim that the operation lacks public backing.
• GOP — Company · Key political actor group · 1 mention · first at 6:25
  Discussed in relation to whether immigration moves (TPS/refugee status) and Latino support might help Republicans politically.
  Refugee status. Do you think that this is a play to keep that voting block in Florida and Texas intact for the GOP?

Concepts & topics

• Oil — Concept · Core motive/driver concept · 4 mentions · first at 0:02
  The hosts repeatedly frame the intervention as an oil-driven regime-change effort benefiting U.S. oil companies and Wall Street rather than U.S. security.
  If you cannot stand up and loudly oppose an illegal, idiotic regime change war to benefit oil companies in Wall Street, then I honestly I don't know what you're doing with yourself.
• Regime change wars — Concept · Core framing concept · 4 mentions · first at 0:02
  The intervention is repeatedly characterized as an illegal regime-change war, used to argue Democrats should oppose it and to compare it to Iraq.
  If you cannot stand up and loudly oppose an illegal, idiotic regime change war to benefit oil companies in Wall Street, then I honestly I don't know what you're doing with yourself.
• national security — Concept · Core political framing concept · 2 mentions · first at 8:29
  Used to explain why Democrats often feel weak on security issues and how that shapes their responses to wars like Iraq and Venezuela.
  Bunch of people who are doing it. But there has just been this like Democrats have this learned helplessness around national security issues that dates back to frankly the…
• TPS — Concept · Immigration policy concept · 1 mention · first at 6:19
  Raised in a listener question about Venezuelans facing deportation after TPS revocation and potential refugee status—linked to GOP electoral strategy.

Places & events

• Venezuela — Place · Core topic · 12 mentions · first at 0:16
  The episode centers on a fictional/claimed U.S. strike, capture of Venezuela's president, and debate over U.S. control and public opinion about involvement there.
• Iraq war — Event · Historical analogy · 1 mention · first at 11:06
  Invoked as a cautionary parallel: toppling a leader without a plan, and as a lesson about Democrats’ political incentives and later reputational outcomes.
• Vietnam War — Event · Historical reference point · 1 mention · first at 8:30
  Cited as the origin of Democrats’ long-running insecurity on national security politics, shaping their tendency to equivocate.
  There has just been this like Democrats have this learned helplessness around national security issues that dates back to frankly the Vietnam War where we think that if the…

Media & podcasts

• Polar Coaster — Media · Primary show · 3 mentions · first at 0:13
  This is the podcast episode being analyzed; it focuses on polls and public opinion around the Venezuela operation.
  Welcome to Polar Coaster. I'm Dan Feifer. Today we're diving into the latest polling on the US invasion of Venezuela and the capture of President Nicholas Maduro, Tim Walls's decision.
• Pod Save the World — Media · Referenced analysis source · 1 mention · first at 0:53
  Recommended as the place to get deeper substantive foreign-policy analysis of the Venezuela events.
  Will run and control Venezuela. For more in-depth analysis on what exactly happened, make sure you check out Pod Save the World. But Dan, we're here to talk polls and public opinion. So, have we seen any polling yet on this?

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 If you cannot stand up and loudly oppose an illegal, idiotic regime change war to benefit oil companies in in Wall Street, then I honestly I don't know what you're doing with yourself. Welcome to Polar Coaster. I'm Dan Feifer. Today we're diving into the latest polling on the US invasion of Venezuela and the capture of President Nicholas Maduro, Tim Walls's decision exit the Minnesota governor's race, and as always, we'll wrap up by answering your questions. Joining me is Caroline Russen. Caroline, it's good to talk to you after a long break. How are you?

0:32 Uh, Dan, I'm doing great. Um, so let's talk about what happened over the weekend. We all woke up to the news that the US military had launched a strike on Venezuela and captured President Maduro and his wife in a special forces raid. Donald Trump has since said that the US will run and control Venezuela. For more in-depth analysis on what exactly happened, make sure you check out Pod Save the World. But Dan, we're here to talk polls and public opinion. So, have we seen any polling yet on this?

1:02 It's there's always this hard turn whenever there's something serious happens where like if you want to know actual substance, check in with Tommy and Ben. If you're a complete and total political hack like me, listen to Polar Coaster, read message box, read my social media posts. That's where we are. But if you are

1:19 if you're Exa Exactly. Look, I've been uh as Ben Rhodess, I've been notoriously anti uh foreign policy for a very long time. So, why why would we change that now? Um, all right, let's get let's get to the polls here because amazingly we've had not one but two polls since this happened over the weekend. And I would say the initial results are not good for Trump. Americans love daring special forces raids. We always have. We love successful military actions. And usually when these things happen, the approval rating of those attacks goes up. And heading into this, there was a lot of resistance and opposition, even among Republicans, to the US being involved with Venezuela at all. There was polling that showed that only 13% of Americans thought that Venezuela Venezuela was a major threat to the United States. They didn't understand why we're there. But as tends to happen, as happened with the Iran bombing

2:12 earlier this year, when the thing actually happens and goes well, then voters get on board. That has not happened with Venezuela thus far. So, we have a Washington Post poll that shows only 40% of Americans approve of the raid itself to capture. But they're not talking about what comes next, just the actual military operation. A Reuters poll found that about a third of Americans support it. Those are really really bad numbers for the initial day because in these military operations, these extended military endeavors, uh the a regime change war here in Venezuela, polling, you know, tends to be at its apex on day one and start to go down. And so the fact that its apex is so low, it's particularly problematic for Republicans. In the Washington Post poll, less than a quarter of Americans think that the United States should be running Venezuela. Only 6% of Americans think that uh the US should be in charge

3:07 of what happens next in Venezuela. 94% say it should be the Venezuelan people. Everything here shows that this is something the American people are not interested in, do not care about, and have real questions as to what exactly what their interest is here. Like why why is Trump focused on this? Why is he getting involved in another protracted expensive military engagement abroad instead of actually dealing with what people elected him for, which is to lower prices? So, typically we see a honeymoon period postmilitary operations like this one. Um, are we going to get a zero dark 30 of this or is is this just going to kind of be a flop?

3:45 Um, somewhere Chris Pratt is doing push-ups to see if he can get in this movie. Um I look I think that there's reasons that you're right that in previous um you know with past presidents when there's a big military operation or a war or a threat or response to something there's something that they call the rally around the flag effect where the president rating goes up support for the uh operation or the endeavor itself uh goes up. That is not happening here for the following reasons. One we've seen this over a long period of time now with Trump. he's simply too polarizing. There aren't a lot of people who don't like Trump who are going to change their mind on something. Um then and he just gives you no reason to rally around him. Two, they the administration made no effort to explain what they're doing in Venezuela, why it matters to people, to make a case for to the extent they talked about it

4:35 at all, it was completely conflicting things. They promised on multiple occasions that this was not a going to be a regime change war that require US boots on the ground and they put US boots on the ground to change who's in charge of Venezuela. And so it's just like when people you know in other situations even with Iran like like people American people associate Iran with a threat to the United States. They associated Iraq with the threat to the United States. They know who Saddam Hussein is. They know who Osama bin Laden is. They do not think about Venezuela as a threat in any way, shape or form unless you have a direct connection to the country. They do not know who Nicholas Maduro is. He's not someone who's captured the national imagination. It just it doesn't resonate with people. And people's patience with these sorts of things is quite thin.

5:19 Right. This smells like a version, not the same thing, but a version of what what the United States did in Iraq, which is we toppled a leader without a real plan for um what comes next. And Trump is out there talking about sending US troops there. In his words, boots on the ground to protect US oil companies trying to extract oil and make more profits out of Venezuela. Talked about set, you know, sending Wall Street people coming in to invest. His focus is the oil. It's just everything he's saying is like designed in a lab to anchor people. So, I find it very almost impossible to imagine a world where this ends up being some sort of net political benefit for Trump, no matter how it goes substantively, even if it goes swimmingly well. Um, just it the conditions are not there for the American people to ever think this was a good idea because it's it's pretty impossible to think it's a good idea.

6:11 Yeah. Um, one of our Discord users, Semon Monster, had a pretty interesting question here. They asked Christine no mentioned that Venezuelans who were marked for deportation due to the revocation of TPS could now apply for refugee status. Do you think that this is a play to keep that voting block in Florida and Texas intact for the GOP?

6:28 Yeah. Look, the in within the polling, if you're looking for one silver lining for Republicans, it's that and these are very small sample sizes, so I would take them with like a shaker's worth of salt. But within those the two polls we've seen, particularly the Washington Post poll and the and you have polling questions from before the the operation happened is that Latino voters are more supportive of what is happening there than the population at large, which is not to say they're particularly supportive, just more supportive. It actually in some of the questions among Latinos, there's a net approval rating for US involvement here.

7:02 Um I I am skeptical that that's going to play out over the long term because like there was very like people who have a tie to Venezuela, a lot of Venezuelans here, people who fled Venezuela, people who have relatives in Venezuela or friends and family in Venezuela like things have been horrible there and there so they they're legitimately and sincerely happy that Nick that Maduro is out as they should be like we all should be like he he's a bad guy. But the person in charge of Venezuela is not the Nobel Peace Prizewinning leader of the opposition. It is not. There is no skip plans for elections right now. The person in charge is the corrupt vice president to Maduro. Life for people in Venezuela has not gotten better in any way, shape, or form. It is not different. They are not free. They do not have democracy. And so I unless he's going to do something that actually helps the people of Venezuela, I don't

7:53 think that this is going to end up being particularly helpful for them. Yeah. Um, another Discord user, Paul Murphy, asked, "It seems to me that Democrats would be well advised to state their displeasure with the Venezuela invasion loudly and often, even if there are short-term negatives for some. What is your thinking on how Democratic politicians should react right now and later?"

8:12 I have been incredibly frustrated by the mealymouth way in which a lot of Democrats, not all Democrats. I talked to Chris Murphy this morning. He is, you know, has been very bold in how he's talked about this and and forward thinking. Same with Ruben Ggo. There's a bunch of people who are doing it. But there has just been this like Democrats have this learned helplessness around national security issues that dates back to frankly the Vietnam War where we think that if if the topic is national security, we inherently are going to lose, which causes us to more often than not either equivocate to the point where no one has any idea what we stand for or try to adopt a lighter shade of the Republican position. And my message to Democrats here is one, this is nuts what Trump did. It's insane. He has no plan. He ca he he captured the president of Venezuela, brought him here, has no plan. What's happening has

9:04 put some combination of Pete Hegathth, Marco Rubio, Steven Miller in charge of the country. There is his main focus is to get oil out of the ground. He doesn't really know how the oil industry works. He doesn't understand what type how why Venezuela is a different type of oil than the US. He has no plan. It's like a he's going to he wants to put US troops on the ground to support and protect American oil companies trying to make profits from Venezuela and to incentivize to listen to this to incentivize these oil companies to go into Venezuela. He wants to give them US taxpayer dollars. He wants to give them larger tax breaks and cash to get them to go in there. This is an insane idiotic plan.

9:46 That oil isn't necessarily for Americans either. It's not. It's not. In fact, that is a very important very important part. Lot most of that oil will not come to the United States.

9:55 It's a different kind of oil than we sell here. It is very complicated. It's going to take a long time to get it ramped up. But also, the oil belongs to the Venezuelans. This is a firmly held principle in international law that the natural resources belong to the country itself. And so this is this but this is like it is idiotic, insane, it's illegal. He didn't consult Congress. All of this. So you shouldn't be afraid to speak out on that. But even you step back from that, the politics of national security is more often about strength than the specifics of an individual policy.

10:28 And you are simply not go never going to look strong when you are trying to parrot a version of your opponent's message rather than boldly and authentically outlining your own. And we if you want to win this fight, you got to look strong. And Democrats who were too scared that they might be portrayed as being pro- Maduro, someone who knows who the is are just leaning into their ultimate Achilles heel here, which is they seem weak instead of strong and bold. And so they're being pro-war does not make you strong in the eyes of voters. Standing strong makes you seem strong in the eyes of voters. There are a number of Democrats voting against the Iraq war, but this is exactly it is this mentality that led Democrats to vote for the Iraq war when they knew it was a bad idea. And it is in a it is the people who like Barack Obama, like Bernie Sanders, others who spoke out against that war or voted against that war who

11:24 ended up looking strong in the end of the minds of voters because they were people who would stand on principle instead of just simply trying to like lick their finger, stick it in the wind, and go where the voters are. If you cannot stand up and loudly oppose an illegal, idiotic regime change war to benefit oil companies in in Wall Street, then I honestly I don't know what you're doing with yourself. That's it for this week's preview of Polar Coaster. If you want to watch the rest of this episode, become a paid member of this channel by clicking the join button below. When you subscribe, you also get more exclusive content and add free episodes of Potsave America and more crooked shows. Plus, joining is the best way to directly support us as we build a counterweight to the right-wing media. You can learn more at cricet.com/friend.

12:05 Thanks and see you next time.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Americans Are NOT HAPPY With Trump's Venezuela Raid"?

Dan Feifer (Host), Caroline Russen (Guest).

What is "Americans Are NOT HAPPY With Trump's Venezuela Raid" about?

The discussion centers on American public opinion regarding the recent U.S. military raid in Venezuela aimed at capturing President Nicolás Maduro. Polling following the event reveals significant dissatisfaction with the action, despite a historical inclination towards supporting military operations. The conversation also touches on political ramifications, including Minnesota Governor Tim…

What is mentioned in this Pod Save America episode?

19 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Venezuela, Polar Coaster, Donald Trump, Oil, Regime change wars, Dan Feifer. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Americans Are NOT HAPPY With Trump's Venezuela Raid"?

The episode runs 12 min; the transcript is about 2,372 words in 20 timestamped sections.

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