"It looks weak": Dems fume at their party's response to Maduro capture
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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro speaks at a military ceremony in Caracas, Venezuela on Nov. 25, 2025. Photo: Jesus Vargas/Getty Images
Some Democrats are grumbling at their party's largely oppositional stance to President Trump's raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, saying privately that their colleagues should be celebrating.
Why it matters: These lawmakers argue it could be a major political miscalculation if the party fails to applaud the downfall of a brutal dictator with sufficient volume, even given grave concerns about the operation's legality and longer-term ramifications.
- Party leaders have raged at Trump for bypassing Congress and leaving them in the dark about the operation to capture Maduro, which involved striking several military targets in Venezuela's capital city.
- And many rank-and-file lawmakers, buoyed by polling that shows Americans largely oppose a protracted intervention in Venezuela, have also seized on Trump's comments that the U.S. will temporarily "run" the country.
- Some centrists and battleground-district members — who spoke to Axios on the condition of anonymity to offer candid criticisms of their party's messaging — have a different view.
What we're hearing: One swing-district House Democrat told Axios in a text message on Saturday, "Nuance is dead in politics."
- "Maduro is bad, glad he is gone ... You can't have it both ways," the lawmaker said, venting that "everything Trump touches must be bad according to the base."
- Another vulnerable House Democrat told Axios in a phone interview: "As Democrats we can't just condemn what happened ... I wish the Democratic Party would be a little bit more measured on this."
- "I think it looks weak," a third centrist House Democrat said. "If you don't acknowledge when there is a win for our country, then you lose all credibility."
Between the lines: It's not just about politics. The second lawmaker who spoke to Axios noted that Democrats widely condemned Venezuela's sham elections last year and have long advocated for democracy abroad.
- "What happened to when they had the election and Maduro stole the election? There were Democrats condemning that," the House Democrat said.
- "Have we forgotten what's happened ... in that country?"
- The third House Democrat told Axios they were surprised "how negative the response has been" from their colleagues.
Zoom out: The vast majority of Democrats are raging at the Trump administration for once again sidelining Congress despite its constitutionally mandated role in authorizing and overseeing military actions.
- House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement: "The Trump administration has not sought congressional authorization for the use of military force and has failed to properly notify Congress in advance of the operation in Venezuela."
- Several House Democrats floated the idea of impeachment Saturday, with Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) even telling Axios: "We are in 25th Amendment territory now."
What's next: House Democrats are set to meet virtually for an "emergency" caucus meeting Sunday afternoon, a senior House Democrat told Axios.
- The senior lawmaker, however, predicted disagreements on messaging won't surface on the call, telling Axios they expect "not a lot" of dissent against the party line.
The bottom line: Democrats have been beset by these divides over how best to respond to President Trump throughout his first year in office.
- The party's grassroots base has pushed lawmakers to take more combative stances towards the administration, with Democratic lawmakers increasingly embracing tactics like impeachment.
- But some of the party's swing-district and centrist members firmly believe that approach risks backfiring with average voters and that the party shouldn't reflexively condemn Trump at every turn — no matter how provocative his moves.
