This will be a real challenge, then. Who is performatively nimble enough to say “we’ve always been at war with Venezuela!”

I think the narrative is that South America is America.

Remember in his first term how he had his loyalists, many of who were expressly in "support" of the 2nd amendment, cheering on the government jackboots who came in the middle of the night to make "cold dead hands" ? The cultists will believe anything. That's the fundamental problem with cults.