President Donald Trump’s military incursion into Venezuela and his demand for “total access” to that sovereign nation’s vast resources of oil, are “close to outright plunder” and an example of his “taking his corruption international,” says The New Republic‘s Greg Sargent.“It’s often said that one of Donald Trump’s biggest innovations in American politics is to confess to his corruption right out in the open,” Sargent writes. “Over the years, Trump has frequently confirmed the truth of that diagnosis. But during remarks to reporters on Sunday about his invasion of Venezuela, he gave this a new spin, taking his corruption international in a fresh way.”Trump was asked what he needs from Delcy Rodríguez, who is now Venezuela’s acting president, after U.S. military forces captured Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and brought him to the United States to stand trial.“We need total access—we need access to the oil and to other things in their country,” Trump told reporters. When asked about Venezuela’s oil reserves, Trump declared, “We’re gonna run everything.”Sargent writes that Trump is now following “the Putin model: Authoritarian rule that enables smash-and-grab oligarchy by those in the regime’s good favor. Trump is making it unusually explicit that in this sphere of influence, Trump-approved oligarchs will be enriched by our regional spoils.”In comments to Sargent, TNR’s Casey Michel put it another way: “Putin envisions a world in which a small group of imperialists loot their portions of the globe as they see fit. Trump has been envious of this model for a long time. He’s implementing it himself in the Western hemisphere.”Sargent also suggests that Trump’s claim to be anti-war is now wrecked.“As TNR’s Michael Tomasky explains, he’s fine with wars that are about ‘raw power in service of plunder and conquest.’”
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