‘Embarrassed’ v ‘force to be reckoned with’: Americans on Trump’s foreign interventions

As Donald Trump continues to call for the US to take control of Greenland, not long after the US captured the deposed president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, we asked people in the US what they thought about Trump’s foreign intervention and rhetoric. Here are some of their responses.

‘All these foreign ventures don’t seem beneficial to the average American citizen’

Simon, a 20-year-old student from Indiana, says he voted for Trump in 2024 and now regrets it due to Trump’s recent foreign intervention and rhetoric.

“I feel like I’ve been fooled into voting not for an American-first policy, but an expansionist policy,” he says. “I voted for grocery prices and gas prices to be lowered, something which would have been beneficial to me as a college student. But since none of those costs have been lowered and prices remain largely the same, I feel like I voted for someone who goes around and bullies allies like Denmark with Greenland, and that really annoys me.

“With Venezuela, Donald Trump captured a dictator [Nicolás Maduro]. I don’t necessarily know how that’s going to improve my life. All these foreign ventures just don’t really seem beneficial to the average American citizen and I think that should be the job of the US president – to improve the lives of their citizens.”

Simon is also concerned that tolerating Trump’s actions in Venezuela could have emboldened the president in his expansionist plans.

“I feel that Venezuela has set a dangerous precedent for US foreign policy going forward,” he says. “If the world does not accurately condemn the US now, why would Trump stop at Greenland?” he asks. “That’s not to say I’m a complete 1920s isolationist, but going around bullying allies is never the way to do it.”

‘It’s painful to watch the goodwill and friendship with Europe being destroyed’

Carol, 78, a social worker from New Mexico, says it is “embarrassing” to have Trump as president.

“Why can’t we just be a nation among nations?” she asks. “I feel so bad about Europe – all the goodwill and friendship that has been there for decades is being destroyed. It is incredibly painful to see. The situation with Greenland is terrifying and I feel it is a real threat from Trump – it is not just him being boisterous.”

Carol, who describes herself as mixed race, is a “long-time Democrat”, bar one time when she voted for Richard Nixon. She is involved in activism, volunteering for Vote Forward, which aims to encourage Americans to vote. She also participated in the No Kings protests.

“There are times when I have to step back [from the news] because it is just too draining, but I try to stay abreast of things,” she says. “I know I, and a lot of other Americans, feel helpless and that our voices don’t feel very effective, but we all have to keep talking about this. There is no time to stand back; we have to participate.”

“I think Trump’s threats accelerate getting things done’

Eric, 22, a restaurant manager from California, is in favour of the US intervention in Venezuela and believes it is important for the US to show the world it has a strong military.

“I thought it was great,” he says of the US operation to capture Maduro. “It was good to see we can actually do a military operation if something were to come to head. Venezuela is in our sphere of influence, and when they cosy up to our geopolitical adversaries, that is a threat to us. The way the operation was executed shows that the USA is a force to be reckoned with and that we won’t just be a lame duck on the world stage when countries around the globe are acting aggressively against American interests.”

‘I support control of Greenland if Trump can find a way to do it respectfully’

“If I was Trump, I would present it like: ‘Let us have some control, some real control, over the island, so that Russia and China don’t,’” he says.

‘Trump is testing limits’

Seth, a 36-year-old e-commerce worker from Ohio, voted for Trump in 2016 but says he barely recognises the person who cast that ballot. “I was young, uninformed, and had one foot in the online rightwing pipeline,” he says. Raised in a Republican family, he voted the way his parents did, without paying close attention.

Now describing himself as a staunch socialist, Seth worries that foreign conflicts could be used domestically as a pretext to undermine democracy. “He’s testing limits, poking and prodding the American people to see if we care about our democracy,” he says, pointing to Trump briefly floating the idea of cancelling the midterms before walking it back.

While Trump campaigned heavily on the economy and cost of living, Seth notes that attention has shifted elsewhere. “The Democrats that are running in the midterms can hammer him on that because it’s not gotten better.”

He believes Trump’s foreign interventions are driven by personal and political gain. “Venezuela has huge oil and mineral reserves. Greenland has rare earth minerals. If he can claim those resources by force, then he can profit from them.”

‘Trump does whatever he wants and nobody holds him accountable’

Marie*, 58, a librarian who lives in Tennessee, says she believes Trump’s foreign policy threats could leave the US “untrusted” on the world stage.

“We’ve seen he does whatever he wants, and nobody holds him accountable,” she says. “There are no rules, and there are no repercussions for Trump, but there are for the rest of us. We’ll be lucky if we have any allies by the time this is done.

“Greenland does not want us there. Trump is seeing how far he can push Nato. None of this helps the American people who are struggling to pay for housing, healthcare and groceries. Fix your own house before looking at others.”

Marie, who describes herself as a Nordic-style socialist who reluctantly votes Democrat, says she feels the damage by Trump’s foreign policy will cut deep.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if this didn’t hurl us into economic depression as a country, because why would anybody invest here?” she says. “Why would anybody trust us? Why would they send their skilled workers here? Why would they make deals with us, only for the US to slap a tariff on them?

“The US has all these resources; we could be a really great country, and we’re not, and I don’t know if we ever will be. Trump’s making America worse, and I don’t think we’ll recover – not in my lifetime.”

‘I’m embarrassed to call myself American right now’

Ocean, an 18-year-old non-binary student from California, says talk of US military intervention abroad lands very differently for young people already struggling with the realities at home.

For Ocean, the idea of spending billions overseas while domestic crises deepen feels both illogical and cruel.

“How do we have the money to take over Greenland when there are people living on the streets?” they ask. “People need housing, healthcare, food. That should be the priority.” They struggle to see how foreign interventions would benefit ordinary Americans. “How is this going to lower healthcare costs or help with the cost of living? No one has explained that.”

Ocean describes the country’s foreign policy under Trump as “a mess” and says it has left them embarrassed. “It reflects badly on all of us,” they say. “Honestly, I’m embarrassed to call myself American right now.”

Ocean says feels the prospect of war feels uncomfortably close. “We’re the ones who would actually be sent,” they say, recalling classmates reacting with horror when a teacher jokingly mentioned young people being deployed. “We don’t want to fight some pointless war.”

‘It worries me’

Marie Thompson*, 76, a retired teacher from Utah, says Trump has “total disdain” for the norms of international law.

“Nicolás Maduro needed to go, but not like this,” says Marie with reference to the capture of the former Venezuelan president. “US imperialism could be the beginning of a dangerous road that leads to world war three.

“Trump has been talking about Greenland since his first term, and then he recently posted an AI-generated map of the world showing Canada and Greenland as part of the US.”

Marie, who describes herself as an independent, but mostly votes Democrat, says Trump governs through “intimidation, bullying and fear”.

“It’s working for him,” she adds. “Trump has no respect for any country or anybody but himself, and he doesn’t care what people think, so whatever comes into his mind, he’s going to try to do. It worries me. It’s going to be a very long three years.”

*Names have been changed