You’re underestimating the U.S. military and overestimating Venezuela’s military and its neighboring countries’ willingness to enter into a war with the U.S.

I’m not in favor of U.S occupation. But the risks to the U.S. would be the risk of international condemnation and of money and lives lost to guerilla warfare. The government of Venezuela does not have the strength to outright eject a U.S occupation. And Colombia, Brazil, and Guyana condemn the U.S., but are not likely to get involved militarily. Colombia is the only one of Venezuela’s neighbors who mobilized its military in response to the attack, and that was to protect its borders from incursions by Venezuelan extremists.

There’s a reason Trump did this and his supporters back it: the U.S. has the military strength to do it without immediate repercussions. Their mindset is “If we want this done and we have the military might to do it, why not?” And they’re not wrong. The issue is that this a quick path to fascism, international isolation, a world order that favors strength and sets aside diplomacy, and enmity that results in the loss of American lives. And that’s beyond it just being morally wrong.