> If any other country ran what they called a “special military operation” like this in the US, we’d call it an invasion

It's a reference to "the official term used by the Russian government to describe the Russian invasion of Ukraine" [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_military_operation

Don't need to go that far. Refugees coming to the U.S. is called an invasion.

Heck, the US claims Venezuela has been and is conducting an invasion of the United States, based on...a whole lot less than that.