Trump Says Oil Companies Were Consulted Before Venezuela Operation
As the new year begins, Donald Trump has already set the tone with another familiar and condemnable action: imperialism.
Imperialism is the extension of a nation’s power over other countries through military force, economic control, or political domination, driven by the pursuit of resources, profit, and strategic advantage and often justified in the name of security or superiority.
Historically, it defined European colonization and U.S. expansion in places like Hawaii and Latin America, leaving exploited economies, destabilized governments, and long-lasting harm in its wake.
Late Saturday, Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken from their home during a U.S. military operation and flown to the United States.
The Trump administration claims the operation was about drugs. Prosecutors revived and expanded a 2020 “narco-terrorism” indictment, accusing Maduro of flooding the U.S. with cocaine. Trump has since stated that Washington will “run” Venezuela and tap its oil.
“We’re going to run the country,” he said, promising U.S. oil companies would spend “billions of dollars” fixing Venezuela’s oil infrastructure and selling “large amounts” of oil to other nations.
Trump cited the Monroe Doctrine, an 1823 policy opposing European interference in the Western Hemisphere, as partial justification, reviving a doctrine long criticized for enabling U.S. interventionism and “Big Stick” diplomacy.
“The Monroe Doctrine has historically been used to cloak interventions serving U.S. commercial and strategic interests,” said University of Missouri historian Jay Sexton. “This fits that pattern.”
The data also contradicts Trumps drug claims. Federal agencies and public health experts agree that fentanyl overwhelmingly enters the U.S. over land from Mexico, not from Venezuela by sea.
What Officials Around the World Think
Regional leaders have warned the action sets a dangerous precedent. Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia issued a joint statement cautioning that forcibly removing a foreign leader risks destabilizing Latin America and undermining sovereignty norms.
Domestically, criticism has come across 50/50. Republicans largely support Trump’s removal of Maduro as a security and regional power move, while Democrats agree Maduro is authoritarian but condemn the action as unconstitutional and reckless.
Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela do not make America safer, stronger, or more affordable.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 4, 2026
That Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator does not change the fact that this action was both unlawful and unwise. We’ve seen this movie before. Wars for regime change or oil that…
“We’ve seen this movie before,” Kamala Harris wrote on X. “Wars for regime change or oil that are sold as strength but turn into chaos, and American families pay the price.”
Speaking on NPR, Joaquin Castro emphasized that Congress was neither consulted nor notified in advance, despite the administration labeling the operation a “law enforcement” action. “We got no notice at all,” Castro said.
Trumps Record of Hypocrisy
Trump claims the Venezuela operation was about stopping drug trafficking, yet his own record undercuts that claim.
He has pardoned or freed major drug figures, including former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, convicted in U.S. court of smuggling tons of cocaine, as well as Ross Ulbricht and Larry Hoover, whose cases were tied to large-scale drug trafficking. His administration also released and deported a high-ranking MS-13 leader, drawing national security warnings from Congress.
Venezuela was not an isolated target. Days before Maduro’s capture, Trump threatened Iran, declaring the U.S. was “locked and loaded and ready to go” after its crackdown on protesters.
“As a candidate, Donald Trump pitched himself as a peace president, and now he’s entering conflicts around the world,” Castro said on NPR.
Let’s be frank, drugs aren’t the issue. This is about a profitable MAGA agenda. The “f’d around and [he] found out” approach, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sends a clear message.
Collateral Damage: Military City USA
According to Forbes, Trump’s net worth has increased over 3 billion since returning to office. Now he has his hands on the largest oil reserves on the planet, using U.S. military power to clear the path. That power, San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, an Iraq War veteran, warned, means communities like ours will “disproportionately answer when duty calls.”
With that in mind, what is unfolding here is not a war on drugs, but an continuing authoritarian exercise of power—one that mirrors the priorities and ambitions laid out in Project 2025.
Until then, good night and good luck.
