Donald Trump’s saber-rattling toward Venezuela hasn’t exactly been subtle of late. Just last month, the Republican president refused to rule out deploying U.S. ground troops in the South American country as part of his administration’s opposition to Nicolás Maduro’s regime. Soon after, Trump’s State Department designated Maduro and his allies part of a foreign terrorist organization.
In late November, the American president said he was shutting down Venezuela’s airspace. Last week, the United States seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast. The Wall Street Journal reported two days later, “The U.S. military is moving more weapons and units into the Caribbean that give President Trump powerful new options to escalate his pressure campaign on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and potentially bring him down.”
All the while, Trump continued to suggest publicly that he’s prepared to order military strikes on targets inside Venezuela “very soon.”
And this week, the White House upped the ante. NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Venezuela on Tuesday by announcing that he is ordering a blockade of all ‘sanctioned oil tankers’ entering and leaving the South American country. […]
Venezuela’s government released a statement Tuesday accusing Trump of ‘violating international law, free trade, and the principle of free navigation’ with what it called ‘a reckless and grave threat.’
Assuming the blockade is real (with Trump, it’s often difficult to know whether his announced plans reflect real-world developments), the announcement marks the latest in a series of escalations. The New York Times noted, “The move could hobble Venezuela’s oil exports, which are the lifeblood of the country’s economy. Venezuela relies entirely on tankers to export its oil to world markets.”
Time will tell whether the blockade materializes, how Venezuela responds and what the Republican administration intends to do next. (Will FIFA decide to revoke Trump’s “peace” prize?) But in the meantime, it’s worth taking a closer look at the American president’s online statement on the latest escalation.
In a 214-word rant published to his social media platform late Tuesday afternoon, Trump peddled a variety of odd assertions, starting with a boast that Venezuela is now “completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America.”
Putting aside the imperialistic colonialism rooted in the claim, basic geography reminds us that it’s literally impossible to “completely surround” Venezuela with an armada because Venezuela shares land-based borders with Brazil, Colombia and Guyana. Nevertheless, the Republican kept going, insisting that his offensive will grow unless Venezuelan officials “return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.” It was a point Trump emphasized several times in his online harangue, referring to Venezuela’s “theft” of things that belong to Americans, which he concluded “must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY.” He did not elaborate about what “assets” he meant. The Times speculated that Trump “might have been referring to the changes in Venezuela’s oil industry after leaders there put it under state control in the 1970s,” which would reinforce impressions that the White House is principally focused on oil acquisition. But given the general tenor of the president’s rants, it’s difficult to know when he has specific things in mind or is just making stuff up. Either way, with each passing day, Trump appears to be moving the United States closer to a military confrontation with Venezuela. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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