It’s often said that one of Donald Trump’s biggest innovations in American politics is to confess to his corruption right out in the open. Over the years, Trump has frequently confirmed the truth of that diagnosis. But during remarks to reporters on Sunday about his invasion of Venezuela, he gave this a new spin, taking his corruption international in a fresh way.
"We need total access—we need access to the oil and to other things in their country," Trump said when asked what he’s demanding of acting President Delcy Rodriguez, who has replaced Nicolás Maduro since U.S. forces transported him here. Asked specifically about Venezuela’s oil reserves, Trump said: "We’re gonna run everything."
This "total access" will go to "very large United States oil companies," Trump says. While he has insisted this will partly benefit Venezuela, he also says that the country’s oil "wealth" will go to the U.S. as "reimbursement for the damages caused to us by that country." Trump’s conception of those "damages" is based on the idea that Venezuela "stole" from us when it nationalized its oil industry in 1976—a complicated history but one that doesn’t remotely support his claim. So this now looks very close to outright plunder.
