The story of what Trump has done in Venezuela had largely fallen out of the news. You know, that country that Donald Trump sent our soldiers to illegally attack back in January, then kidnap its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Before the military strike, what Trump called “a spectacular assault,” Trump foreshadowed his plot. “We had a lot of oil there,” Trump told reporters. “They threw our companies out, and we want it back.”
Soon he was announcing that “we are going to run the country now,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be put in charge (and still is) and “we” will take over the oil business there. “We’ll be selling oil in large amounts to other countries,” Trump told a reporter, adding that this “would make a lot of money.”
A week later, pumped up with delusions of triumph, Trump was asked by a New York Times reporter if he is constrained by international law. “I don’t need international law,” he said. Asked if there were any limits on his global powers, he answered, “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
Fast forward eight months. We learned yesterday that Donald Trump made a deal with Venezuela—that is, if you believe when someone has a gun to their head and agrees to something they are “making a deal.”
The U.S. would be taking control of “65 billion barrels of proven Oil Reserves,” Trump posted, calling it “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” He credited Rubio and Killer Pete Hegseth, “working closely” with Venezuela’s installed president, Delcy Rodriguez, for sorting out the agreement that would involve an unnamed private business. This was Trump’s flailing attempt to convince people that this “will substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future.”
Doing her part, Rodriguez put out a statement detailing the arrangement, which involves developing 17 oil fields with the potential of producing 65 billion barrels and that attracting $100 billion in investment and result in more than $209 billion in taxes for Caracas. She stated this “will have a significant impact on our nation’s revival.”
According to reporting by the AP, the deal would grant a private company 100-year rights on the fields, give the U.S. 55 percent of the output of the new company, as well as an ownership stake and rights to buy oil at cost.
Let’s put aside the fact that major oil producers have previously called Venezuela “un-investable” and that the country’s crumbling oil infrastructure is far from ready to manage such production, belying Trump’s imaginary suggestion that this would be a quick fix for gas prices. Suffice to say, I am not applauding this “historic deal.”
What the hell is Marco Rubio doing running Venezuela? He is described by the Times as “the de facto viceroy of Venezuela” who “effectively controls Venezuela’s finances, the distribution of its natural resources and its government”? Why the hell is the so-called Secretary of War involved in negotiations to control a sovereign nation’s oil reserves? And do they and their boss think that anyone has forgotten that they used the U.S. military to lawlessly grab Venezuela’s president on drug charges and take him to an American prison where he has claimed his innocence? Remember when they pretended that what they really care about is stopping the illegal drug trade?
With all its moral imperfections and abuses, America could once consider itself the good guy, who helped win the war against fascism and the Nazis, then helped Europe and Japan rebuild. America could once describe itself to the world as a beacon of democracy and liberty that welcomed the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Lady Liberty was a source of pride.
Now America is led by a convicted felon engaging in corruption on an unprecedented scale, a “plunderer-in-chief” who looks at foreign policy as an opportunity to flex military muscle and take stuff. Never mind international law or—dare I even say it—the appearance of morality. As countries and leaders turn away from Trump’s America (see the latest example, Canada), where their sovereignty and leadership is denied or abused, it’s hard to see how this poisonous stain can soon be removed.
So here’s today’s question: Can America ever regain its honor? Has Trump succeeded in permanently trashing our nation’s reputation? Do you think that a new president can succeed in turning the tide and rebuilding relationships with democratic allies and earning respect again as a partner? Or do you believe that the harm could take a generation or more to repair, if it ever can be?
As always, I look forward to reading your observations and the opportunity for the America, America community to learn from each other. Please do be respectful in your remarks. Trolling will not be tolerated.
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For nearly eighty years, America showed up at the world’s table wearing a pressed suit, carrying a checkbook, a map, and most importantly, a reputation. It may have been unreliable at times, sanctimonious often, but broadly committed to the idea that alliances, institutions, and promises mattered. Then Donald Trump lumbered in like the loudest man at a failing casino, mistaking every diplomatic relationship for a financial racket and every ally for a waiter who’d forgotten his extra ketchup. Through the peculiar alchemy of grievance, vanity, and breathtaking incuriosity, he turned trust into a punch line, treaties into props, and American leadership into a late-night cable rant with nuclear codes. The damage is not simply that other countries now doubt Washington DC, it’s that they have learned, rationally, to plan around it. Trust, after all, is slow-cooked and simmered. It takes years of shared sacrifice, compromise, and occasionally swallowing your pride. And, trust was simply burned to charcoal by one Donald Trump who was convinced the smoke meant dinner was ready.
I’m not going to believe that America cannot emerge from this nightmare stronger than ever, but it will take many years to convince the rest the world that Trump was an aberration, if indeed that is the case.