Rand Paul Warns Venezuela Strikes Could 'Fracture' GOP Coalition

Sen. Rand Paul cautioned that the administration’s strikes tied to Venezuela and a planned designation of the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization could split Republicans who oppose foreign interventions. On Face the Nation, he said an invasion or renewed foreign commitments could fracture the movement that supported the president. Paul criticized the lack of briefings for Congress, raised legal and human‑rights concerns about the strikes, and urged a focus on reducing domestic drug demand through treatment.

03:44 AM, 11/24/2025Politics

Sen. Rand Paul warned that recent U.S. actions connected to Venezuela risk splitting the Republican coalition that rallied behind an anti‑intervention message. Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, the Kentucky Republican said the administration’s approach could alienate supporters who were drawn to the president’s reluctance to engage in foreign wars.

Paul told host Margaret Brennan that an invasion of Venezuela or even a renewed commitment of support to Ukraine could prompt “a splintering and fracturing of the movement that has supported the president.” He said many supporters, including himself, were attracted to the president because of that reluctance to start new foreign wars.

In recent months, the administration has carried out maritime strikes against vessels it says are involved in drug trafficking off the coasts of Central and South America and has suggested similar operations on land. Officials also plan to designate Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization — a move Paul criticized on constitutional and strategic grounds.

“I think by doing this, they are pretending as if we are at war,” Paul said, noting that as chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs he is concerned about how that designation could broaden rules of engagement.

The strikes have triggered an international debate over legality and human rights. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights recently described killings linked to the operations as a possible breach of international law. Democrats in Congress have also expressed outrage and complained about a lack of briefings.

Paul said he has received no briefings on the Venezuela operations despite his committee role. “I’ve been given zero, not one briefing because I am skeptical of what they are doing,” he said, adding that any briefings appear to have been limited to a select group of people.

He further criticized the approach as inconsistent: “They want to have it both ways. They want to say, ‘Oh, we can just say these people are terrorists, are narco‑terrorists, so we can blow them up,’ … [but then] they don't prosecute [survivors] for drugs.”

While Paul acknowledged that drug trafficking into the United States is a serious problem, he argued the government should focus more on reducing demand at home and treating addiction as a public health issue: “We should be trying to work on the demand side, treating it as a health problem, as an addiction problem in our country and trying to lessen demand.”

The debate highlights a broader tension within the Republican movement over foreign intervention and the limits of executive action, and it underscores ongoing legal and ethical questions about the use of force in counter‑drug operations abroad.