It may well be safer, easier and cheaper for US companies to procure whatever oil the US economy needs at home
There are a few reasons that Donald Trump – now self-anointed acting President of Venezuela, as well as the United States – might be so excited about appropriating Venezuela’s oil.
Trump may be counting on some boost from cheap oil to the US economy: he is obsessed with the price of gas. As the midterm elections approach, he has become concerned about unemployment. Deeply imprinted memories of scarcity during the oil crises of the 1970s may prime his belief that cheap oil cures it all.
The US president may also consider Venezuelan oil as an easy source of cash, either for the US government – to add to the tariff bonanza that he implausibly claims is being paid by foreigners – or for his own personal stash, which he may want to diversify away from crypto.
My guess is he’s dreaming: dreams built from Upton Sinclair tales of wildcatters striking it rich at the turn of the 20th century, mixed in with ingrained images from the Beverly Hillbillies, which debuted on CBS when Trump was 16, and visions of gold-plated palaces, so common in the oil fiefdoms of the Middle East. A child’s lust for buried treasure.
