Republican Sen. John Cornyn, seeking a fifth term, offered \u201ckudos\u201d to Trump, arguing Maduro was not only an illegitimate president but also the head of a drug trafficking network involving senior Venezuelan officials.<\/p>\n
Cornyn cited Maduro\u2019s federal indictment in New York on narco-terrorism charges and tied the Venezuelan leader to Iran, Hezbollah and sanction-evading \u201cghost fleets\u201d linked to Russia, Iran and China.<\/p>\n
Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is challenging Cornyn in the March 3 GOP primary, also offered support. He reposted a statement from Vice President JD Vance asserting Trump had offered diplomatic off-ramps and followed through when they failed. <\/p>\n
Paxton added his own endorsement: \u201cStrong work.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston, another Republican contender who highlights his Army service, called the operation \u201cextraordinary\u201d and a \u201cmasterstroke\u201d of Trump\u2019s presidency. <\/p>\n
Hunt said Venezuela had become a narco-terrorist enterprise and criticized what he described as past interventionist failures that cost lives and trillions of dollars.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/5J3PRNH3E5BUPELY66RYCIUTCE.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The leading Democratic candidates for Senate, state Rep. James Talarico and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett.<\/p>\n
Compos<\/p>\n
The leading Democratic Senate candidates condemned the move as unconstitutional and reckless. They argued it contradicted Trump\u2019s own promises about foreign intervention and ignored priorities at home.<\/p>\n
Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas said Trump was launching a new war without congressional authorization, and she warned of unchecked presidential power and costly escalation.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople can\u2019t afford groceries and millions are losing healthcare, but this is where his focus is,\u201d she said in a social media post, calling the action unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
State Rep. James Talarico of Austin framed it as corrupt. <\/p>\n
He pointed to Trump\u2019s past support of oil executives and said the operation effectively handed them access to Venezuela, home to the world\u2019s largest oil reserves. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis new war is not only illegal and reckless,\u201d Talarico said, \u201cit is deeply corrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n
The backlash did not come solely from Democrats. <\/p>\n
Parts of Trump\u2019s political base, including those tied to the MAGA movement, said the strikes undercut Trump\u2019s past pledges to keep the U.S. out of foreign conflicts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong,\u201d said former Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, in a social post. <\/p>\n
Trump, asked at news conference Saturday how seizing Venezuelan oil fits his \u201cAmerica First\u201d agenda, said, \u201cWe want to surround ourselves with good neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Venezuela clash<\/p>\n
Quick takes from Texas Senate candidates:<\/p>\n
Republicans<\/p>\n
Sen. John Cornyn \u2013 Kudos, justifiedAttorney General Ken Paxton \u2013 Strong workU.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt \u2013 Masterstroke<\/p>\n
Democrats<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett \u2013 Unconstitutional State Rep. James Talarico \u2013 Illegal, corrupt <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Republicans and Democrats running for the U.S. Senate have split sharply over President Donald Trump\u2019s military operation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2671,2135,3481,3309,1967,287,27,29,28,6474],"class_list":{"0":"post-110436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-congress","9":"tag-james-talarico","10":"tag-jasmine-crockett","11":"tag-john-cornyn","12":"tag-ken-paxton","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-texas-headlines","16":"tag-texas-news","17":"tag-wesley-hunt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}