So much for an end to nation building.
President Donald Trump told the New York Times that the United States will maintain “oversight” of Venezuela for years—not months—following the U.S. military raid that captured President Nicolás Maduro last weekend. When asked how long American oversight would last, Trump was characteristically blunt: “I would say much longer” than a year.
WHAT’S GOING ON: The U.S. apparently just illegally acquired itself a new satellite state in South America. Trump laid out what sounds an awful lot like an old-school colonial extraction project: “We will rebuild it in a very profitable way,” he said. “We’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking oil.”
Let that sink in. The president is openly stating that America invaded a sovereign nation, kidnapped its leader, and is now taking its natural resources. He’s not even pretending this is about democracy or human rights anymore.
THE DETAILS: Trump unveiled a plan Tuesday to refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil that had been stuck under U.S. sanctions. He says the U.S. is “getting along very well” with the interim government led by Delcy Rodríguez—the same government that exists because American forces seized the previous president.
“They’re giving us everything that we feel is necessary,” Trump said of the Venezuelan government. Of course they are. What choice do they have?
Trump framed the oil extraction as mutually beneficial, claiming “we’re going to be giving money to Venezuela, which they desperately need.” So: We take your oil, sell it, keep the profits we want, and toss you some cash. Very generous.
WHY IT MATTERS: This is imperialism stated plainly, without the usual diplomatic window dressing. Previous administrations at least bothered to wrap resource extraction in the language of liberation or humanitarian intervention. Trump is just saying the quiet part loud: We wanted the oil. We took it. We’re staying.
Germany’s president responded by saying the U.S. is “destroying world order”—and it’s hard to argue with that assessment when an American president is casually discussing indefinite occupation of a Latin American country for its petroleum.
BOTTOM LINE: The man who campaigned on ending endless wars just started what looks like an open-ended occupation of Venezuela. “Only time will tell” how long America stays, Trump said. History suggests: longer than anyone wants to admit.