President Donald Trump is once again proving that America First does not mean making America weak. On Monday, the president said he is seriously considering making Venezuela the 51st state, pointing to the country’s enormous oil wealth and what he called strong Venezuelan support for his leadership. His message was blunt: “Venezuela loves Trump.”
This comes after U.S. forces captured socialist strongman Nicolás Maduro and his wife in January, ending years of Marxist misery, narco-terror, hyperinflation, mass migration, and the collapse of basic services in a country blessed with some of the greatest energy reserves on earth.
Instead of propping up the same failed socialist model, the Trump-backed interim government under Delcy Rodríguez has moved quickly to open Venezuela’s oil sector to private investment and break the grip of Chavismo—knowing that if she failed to do so she would get the Maduro treatment.
Chevron has already expanded operations in the Orinoco Oil Belt, and Venezuelan production is rising, with officials targeting 1.3 million barrels per day by year’s end. The left will scream “imperialism,” because they always do. But the bigger picture is strategic energy, regional security, and the chance to pull a destroyed nation out of socialism’s wreckage while strengthening the United States.
President Trump has said America would rebuild Venezuela “in a very profitable way,” using oil and taking oil. After decades of watching hostile regimes exploit resources while America paid the price, President Trump is putting U.S. interests first. Venezuela’s future is still uncertain. But one thing is clear: socialism devastated it, and Trump is rebuilding it in a remarkable showing of peace through strength.
