Donald Trump loves to huff and puff about oil. Way back in 2011, when United States troops were finally exiting Iraq, Trump insisted that if it were up to him, he would “take the oil” on the way out. Five years later, when Trump was running for president, he repeated the petroleum grab idea with the dubious claim that it would deprive ISIS of revenue.
Now, as Trump ramps up military pressure on Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, he rants both out loud (“They took all of our oil…and we want it back)” and, less coherently, online: “America…will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY.”
The oil tirades seemed to deliver a perfect aha moment: See, the Trump administration’s campaign against Venezuela—which has drawn outrage for bombing boats that were allegedly smuggling drugs—wasn’t really about stopping the flow of narcotics; it was about imperialism and profiteering! That explanation made factual sense: Venezuela is a relatively minor player in the US drug trade, and losing a few small boats in the Caribbean Sea was unlikely to cause Maduro any real concern, despite what Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, told Vanity Fair’s Chris Whipple in November: “He wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle. And people way smarter than me on that say that he will.”
The oil motive also tracked with Trump’s character: Money and attention are the only two things he truly cares about, so seizing Venezuela’s most valuable export would be fittingly kleptocratic.
Maria Carina Machado, the opposition leader and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, clearly believes that the way to Trump’s heart is through his wallet. In February, she appeared on Donald Trump Jr.’s podcast to tout Venezuela’s “infinite potential” for US companies, and has talked up the country as “a $1.7 trillion opportunity.”
“In 2023, President Trump promised to take on the cartels and protect our homeland from narcoterrorists trying to kill Americans with illicit narcotics. The entire administration is working cohesively to deliver the President’s agenda to keep this poison out of our communities,” says deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly in an email response.
But Trump’s fixation on Venezuela—and, more specifically, the way he’s talking about seizing the nation’s resources—could be more strategic than it seems—in service of a goal that isn’t as obvious as either national or personal enrichment. He has delivered his bombast in tandem with a naval blockade targeting tankers that were violating international sanctions, a move that could quickly have a substantial impact.
