January 06 2026, 08:15 
Donald Trump invaded Venezuela and arrested the Latin American strongman Nicolas Maduro on January 3 in an operation that resulted in at least 80 people’s deaths. Trump then said that the U.S. is now “in charge” of the country.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg summed up the reason why Trump invaded Venezuela in one word: “unpopular.”
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And Buttigieg wasn’t the only Democrat to do so. All the out LGBTQ+ people in Congress also denounced the invasion, many of them using similar arguments: The invasion was illegal because Congress wasn’t consulted, the invasion risks destabilizing the region and getting the U.S. involved in a protracted military operation, and that Trump is using the invasion to draw attention away from domestic issues like the cost of living and health care.
“It’s an old and obvious pattern,” Buttigieg posted to several social media platforms. “An unpopular president – failing on the economy and losing his grip on power at home – decides to launch a war for regime change abroad.”
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“The American people don’t want to ‘run’ a foreign country while our leaders fail to improve life in this one.”
It's an old and obvious pattern. An unpopular president – failing on the economy and losing his grip on power at home – decides to launch a war for regime change abroad. The American people don’t want to “run” a foreign country while our leaders fail to improve life in this one.
— Pete Buttigieg (@petebuttigieg.bsky.social) 2026-01-03T17:08:38.724Z
In a later post, Buttigieg echoed many Democrats’ rhetoric and asked why Trump isn’t trying to help people get health insurance instead of invading Venezuela.
As of this week, millions of Americans are now paying thousands more for health insurance. If the President and Congressional GOP think Washington has the capacity to "run" Venezuela right now, why won't they fix the insurance cost crisis they've created here at home?
— Pete Buttigieg (@petebuttigieg.bsky.social) 2026-01-05T14:24:55.244Z
Buttigieg was far from the only out LGBTQ+ elected official to denounce the invasion. All 13 out Congress members also criticized the invasion.
Buttigieg, who served as a Navy Reserve officer in Afghanistan, has previously criticized Trump for ducking military service and disrespecting military members.
“Donald Trump claimed to be incapacitated by bone spurs so that he would not have to serve [in Vietnam] and let somebody go to war in his place,” Buttigieg said in June 2024. “And that spirit continued through his presidency.”
“We saw it in the report that he referred to those who gave their lives for this country as ‘suckers’ and ‘losers,’” Buttigieg continued, adding, “By the way, a report that did not originate from some democratic opposition research machine, it originated from his own chief of staff, somebody who couldn’t be bothered to attend a ceremony at Normandy because it was raining.”
Last March, Buttigieg said that he was “p*ssed off” with Trump’s “slash-and-burn” proposal to cut 80,000 employees from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). An estimated 25% of VA employees are military veterans, according to PBS.
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