CNN Politics -- Trump is really pressing his luck on foreign interventions -- Analysis by Aaron Blake -- 10 hr ago (January 13, 2026)

 CNN  Politics

Trump is really pressing his luck on foreign interventions

Analysis by

Aaron Blake

10 hr ago (January 13, 2026)

President Donald Trump departs the White House on Tuesday. Win McNamee/Getty Images

President Donald Trump on Tuesday seemed to hint at his latest foray into potential military action – in Iran, again.

In an interview with CBS News, he threatened “very strong action” if Iran hangs detained protesters.

That followed a social media missive earlier in the day in which Trump said he was canceling any meetings with Iran’s leaders until the killing of protesters ends and told those protesters that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.” Asked later what that means, he told reporters: “You’re going to have to figure that one out.”

The president has previously pledged that the United States would come to the “rescue” of protesters if the Iranian regime killed them and that, if protesters were harmed, “we’re going to hit them very hard.” A US-based human rights group now says more than 2,400 people people have been killed. Trump also said Tuesday that US citizens and those of US allies should evacuate Iran.

But should the president again opt for a military option in Iran — after striking its nuclear facilities over the summer — he’ll really be pressing his political luck.

Even as he’s launched a more aggressive foreign policy in recent months, his interventions have quite notably been characterized by their brevity. His bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities last June was limited to one day, as was his ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

And that truncated overseas involvement seems to have held off a major political reckoning from an American public that has appeared quite skeptical of foreign interventions for a long time.

But as Trump continues to threaten interventions – not just in Iran and Venezuela but elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere – it’s not so clear he’ll always be able to avoid being bogged down.

And he’s at risk of further alienating the American people, as he has on a slate of other issues.

Fires are lit as anti-government protesters rally in Tehran on January 8. Getty Images

Neither the initial strikes on Iran nor the ouster of Maduro in Venezuela appeared particularly popular or unpopular. Both appeared to about evenly split the American public when the polls are taken as a whole.

But those surveys included a series of warning signs for Trump. They practically screamed: Patience is limited.

After both events, even the support that existed was rather weak.

A CNN poll from June showed 44% of Americans said they approved of the Iran strikes, but just 20% did so “strongly.” Not even a majority of Republicans “strongly” supported Trump’s strikes (44%).

And the picture was remarkably similar earlier this month in a Washington Post poll on the US sending in the military to remove Maduro. While 40% of Americans approved of the strike, just 21% did so “strongly.” And again, only a plurality of Republicans (45%) were strongly on-board.

Three-quarters of Republicans more generally supported the strikes in both cases. But the fact that not even a majority of Republicans supported them strongly would seem telling. That’s unusual in today’s Trump-dominated GOP.

But that’s hardly the only evidence that Americans are skeptical of Trump’s growing interventionism. Polls last year repeatedly showed Americans were quite concerned about further involvement in conflicts with both Iran and Venezuela.

A June Reuters-Ipsos poll conducted shortly after the Iran strikes showed they were modestly unpopular, with 36% supporting them and 45% opposing them.

This satellite image shows the Fordow nuclear facility in Iran on June 24, 2025, a day after US strikes on the facility. Maxar Technologies

But one thing united Americans back then: being done with it all. Asked whether they wanted to “immediately” end US involvement in Iran, Americans leapt at that option by 30 points, 55%-25%. Republicans were about evenly split, with 42% wanting to end it immediately and 40% opposing that.

Polls around the same time showed lots of Americans were skeptical about Trump’s aims and worried about blowback:

84% were concerned about the conflict between the US and Iran growing – including 51% who were “very” concerned – according to the Reuters poll.

79% worried at least somewhat about Iran targeting US civilians in response to US airstrikes.

And 60% said they didn’t think the strikes made America safer.

And again, public opinion after the Venezuela strike has been a similar story:

72% of Americans were concerned the United States would “become too involved” in Venezuela, according to a Reuters-Ipsos poll this month, including more than half of Republicans.

The poll showed just 29% of Americans wanted to take control of Venezuela’s oil fields, as Trump has moved to do.

Just 35% in a CBS News-YouGov poll expected the Venezuela strikes to decrease the flow of drugs to the United States, despite Trump’s focus on the issue.

And just 38% favored further military action if the government of Venezuela didn’t cooperate with the United States, per the CBS poll.

And then there is all the polling showing Americans have said over and over again in recent years that they don’t want to get involved overseas unless it’s absolutely necessary. In fact, the percentage who want the US to “stay out” of world affairs is hovering around a decades-high, and about 6 in 10 have said it’s “better for the nation if the U.S. stays out of the affairs of other nations.”

If Trump is intent on striking Iran again, perhaps he can convince Americans that it’s just that important – that this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help topple a brutal regime and free the oppressed. Perhaps the strikes would again be limited.

But with every move toward involving the US military overseas, Trump is testing Americans’ patience. And they don’t seem to have a ton in reserve.