{"id":311273,"date":"2026-01-05T12:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=311273"},"modified":"2026-01-03T19:51:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T19:51:03","slug":"trumps-venezuela-attack-its-all-about-the-oil-stupid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/01\/trumps-venezuela-attack-its-all-about-the-oil-stupid\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s Venezuela Attack: It\u2019s All About the Oil, Stupid!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Here are five times Donald Trump himself admitted that illegally attacking Venezuela and toppling Nicol\u00e1s Maduro was aimed at seizing the country\u2019s massive oil reserves.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

3 Jan 2026\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0To understand why Donald Trump just (illegally) attacked<\/a> Venezuela and kidnapped the country\u2019s president and his wife, you only need to look at this chart,<\/a> which is based on OPEC numbers.<\/p>\n

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Via Statista<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Trump didn\u2019t attack Venezuela because it produces fentanyl. It doesn\u2019t<\/a>. He didn\u2019t attack Venezuela because President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro controls the Tren de Aragua gang. He doesn\u2019t<\/a>. He didn\u2019t attack Venezuela because Maduro is the head of the Cartel de los Soles. It doesn\u2019t even exist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about the oil, stupid!<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t believe me? Think it sounds a little conspiratorial?<\/p>\n

Well, here\u2019s the thing: Donald Trump, the self-declared \u2018peace president,\u2019 the serial liar, also likes to say the quiet part out loud from time to time.<\/p>\n

In 2003, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney at least pretended<\/em> their illegal invasion of Iraq and toppling of Saddam Hussein wasn\u2019t about Iraq\u2019s oil. It was about democracy! WMDs! Al-Qaeda!<\/p>\n

Donald Trump, weirdly, shamelessly, and luckily for us, has been brutally honest on the subject of Venezuela and his motivation for regime change in Caracas.<\/p>\n

Here he is in his own words.<\/p>\n

1. \u201cReturn the oil\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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On Dec. 16, Trump posted<\/a> on Truth Social that he was ordering \u201cA TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE\u201d of all Venezuelan oil tankers by \u201cthe largest Armada ever assembled\u201d until \u201csuch time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil<\/strong>, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be clear, US companies, as even the Washington Post<\/a><\/em> has pointed out, \u201cnever owned oil or land in Venezuela, home to the world\u2019s largest proven reserves of crude, and officials didn\u2019t kick them out of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. \u201cWe want it back\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n