Trump Meant It Literally When He Said He Was Taking the Oil
The article critiques the Trump administration's intervention in Venezuela, characterizing the seizure of oil assets as an amoral foreign policy move. It argues that the installation of a puppet government to facilitate resource extraction undermines democratic norms.
Why it matters
It highlights the ethical implications of aggressive foreign policy and the use of state power for resource acquisition.
The Venezuela operation is the purest distillation of his amoral foreign policy.
Javier Campos / NurPhoto / Getty September 1, 2026, 3:48 PM ET Share Save “We’re going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground,” Donald Trump said when he announced the capture of the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in January. And lo and behold, it has come to pass.
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