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Earlier today, I was happy to host my first Substack live of 2026 with Rachel Janfaza, founder of The Up and Up, to talk through a question emerging from Trump’s Venezuela escalation: how is this landing with young voters?
Rachel runs listening sessions with Gen Z, and her qualitative research work is fantastic. The key takeaway from our conversation is simple: Venezuela is not a standalone foreign policy headline. For young voters, it is being filtered through something broader, a sense that Trump promised to make daily life better and is doing the opposite while he’s distracted by his self-indulgent aims.
You can watch our full conversation above and find insights from our talk below. It was a great one you won’t want to miss.
Fear of war was already shaping young voters before Venezuela
Rachel opened with a point that deserves more attention: the topic of war has been “top of mind” for young people since before the 2024 election.
In her campus conversations, young people repeatedly raised anxiety about foreign interventions and, especially for young men, the possibility of being drafted. Also, the Israel-Hamas war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza have loomed large for Gen Z.
In that context, Trump’s “pro-peace” branding, whether earned or not, resonated. Not because young voters had deep ideological coherence around foreign policy, but because war feels immediate and personal to the demographic that could be sent to fight it.
Venezuela is now colliding with the exact promise that helped him with a key slice of young voters.
“America First” is a broader youth instinct, not just a MAGA slogan
One of the most revealing parts of the conversation was Rachel’s point that “America First” is showing up across the aisle as a youth sentiment. Not necessarily in its MAGA branding, but as a basic intuition:
Young people feel like daily life is precarious, so they are asking why the government is prioritizing foreign conflict when domestic life feels increasingly unlivable.
That frame is powerful because it undercuts the administration’s justification from two angles at once. It challenges the strategy abroad, and it highlights unmet needs at home.
Young voters are not only reacting to Venezuela. They are reacting to an accumulation of grievances
We kept coming back to the same point: Venezuela is landing inside a pileup of grievances, disappointments, and scandals.
Rachel described a widening frustration that Trump is prioritizing personal interests over national interests. We discussed a mix of issues that young people are noticing, from Venezuela and the Epstein fallout to Trump’s corrupt self-enrichment and distractions.
That matters because it changes how Venezuela is interpreted.
Instead of “decisive strength,” it becomes part of a story many young people already believe: a distracted president pursuing self-interest while everyday problems remain unresolved.
The “MAGA rift” is real, but it is not a clean partisan story
Rachel made an important correction that explains a lot of what we are seeing now: many young men who voted for Trump in 2024 were not committed Republicans or even ideologically conservative. A lot of them were simply rejecting what they felt Democrats were selling.
That means they are easier to lose. But also, it does not automatically mean they return to the Democrats. They can drift, disengage, or move further into right-wing identity politics depending on what ecosystem captures them.
This is why the Venezuela backlash among young voters is politically meaningful, but not automatically a Democratic win.
Nick Fuentes is not mainstream, but grievance politics is
When we discussed Fuentes and the broader far-right ecosystem, Rachel’s framing was sharp: Fuentes does not speak for most young people, but the underlying emotional fuel is real.
Grievance is sticky. Anger goes viral. Debate content, conflict content, and identity-based resentment content are what the platforms reward.
That does not mean most young men become neo-Nazis. It means the ecosystem keeps pushing them toward “someone is to blame” narratives, which can shape how they process everything from Venezuela to AI to dating.
There is a hunger for an alternative, including optimism that is authentic
One of the most hopeful moments in the live was Rachel pushing back on the idea that Gen Z is permanently nihilistic.
She said she is hearing, from the left and right, exhaustion with Trump-era politics and openness to something different. But she added a crucial caveat: optimism works only if it is authentic.
A performative “hope” message will not land. A real “people-first” message might.
The overlooked 2026 issue: AI anxiety
Toward the end, Rachel made what I think is one of the most underrated strategic observations for 2026: AI is becoming a defining issue for young people, and most politicians are not speaking to it in a serious way.
She described it as a daily-life concern, not just an abstract tech debate. Jobs, education, uncertainty, and even mental health. People are using AI for therapy and medical advice. They are using it for dating. It is touching everything.
Her core point was simple: leaders who understand AI and can articulate how to protect people in an AI-shaped economy will break through.
The bottom line
Venezuela is a foreign policy escalation, but for young voters, it is also a betrayal of a promise Trump made to them.
Young people are already stressed about affordability, jobs, and the future. Many were drawn to “no new wars” messaging in 2024, especially young men. Now they are watching escalation abroad in a moment where they feel the domestic foundation is shaky.
That is why this story could matter more politically than the administration expects.
