Who cares if he had the authority or not.
Democrats, mostly. If he'd just received permission in advance (a comically easy feat in this pro-war legislature) he could have straight up leveled Caracas and all we'd be reading in the news are "Why Venezuelans deserved it" Op-Eds.
What matters is that the people of Venezuela did not consent to his imperialistic actions.
I gotta disagree. They're already greeting us as liberators. I've received dozens of AI generated videos of Venezuelans clapping and cheering and waving "Give Trump The Nobel Peace Prize Now" banners over freeways full of cars painted like American flags.