{"id":134346,"date":"2026-09-22T12:47:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T19:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marinresists.com\/?p=134346"},"modified":"2026-09-22T13:31:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T20:31:53","slug":"to-the-victor-belong-the-spoils-in-u-n-address-trump-brags-about-seizing-venezuelan-oil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ms.now\/rachel-maddow-show\/maddowblog\/trump-victor-spoils-venezuela-oil-united-nations","title":{"rendered":"\u2018To the victor belong the spoils\u2019: In U.N. address, Trump brags about seizing Venezuelan oil"},"content":{"rendered":"

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At an event in Las Vegas last month, Donald Trump offered some rather candid comments about his perspective on Venezuelan oil. \u201cWe\u2019re taking a lot of oil from Venezuela, and we\u2019re getting along great with them,\u201d the president said<\/a>. \u201cBillions and billions of barrels of oil is coming out of Venezuela. \u2026 It\u2019s the old-fashioned way, right? It\u2019s the old-fashioned way. To the victor belong the spoils, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Republican characterized it, the United States is entitled<\/em> to a foreign country\u2019s natural resources, not as the result of a diplomatic agreement but because we launched a military attack on it.<\/p>\n

The White House has been credibly accused for months of treating Venezuela more as a U.S. colony<\/a> than as an independent foreign nation, and those public comments certainly didn\u2019t help. Trump nevertheless repeated the rhetoric again Tuesday while speaking to the United Nations General Assembly. MS NOW reported<\/a> as part of the network\u2019s liveblog coverage:<\/p>\n

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Trump hailed the oil deal struck between the U.S. and Venezuela last month, after American forces captured then-President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in January. Under the agreement, the U.S. will have majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela\u2019s oil reserves, a deal that the White House said \u201csecures our energy dominance for the next century \u2014 all at zero cost to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you add the United States and Venezuela together, we have more than 60% of the oil in the world,\u201d Trump said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s perhaps the biggest deal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He added, in an apparent summary of the White House\u2019s position, \u201c\u2018To the visitor belong the spoils,\u2019 you\u2019ve all heard that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Trump: “In January, at my direction, the United States military conducted a massive military operation penetrating deep into the Venezuelan capital \u2026 it was a war. To the victor belong the spoils.”<\/p>\n

\u2014 Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com)<\/a> 2026-09-22T14:53:53.728Z<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

In case this isn\u2019t obvious, the Republican president might not have fully appreciated the implications of his misplaced boast. To hear Trump tell it, the U.S. attacked a country, captured its leader, took control of its government, and is now helping itself to that sovereign country\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the kind of position that makes us sound less like a global superpower and more like pirates<\/em>.<\/p>\n

All of this coincides with new reporting from The Financial Times<\/a>, which noted that the Trump administration has so far failed to reveal how much money the U.S. has collected and where, exactly, all of the money is.<\/p>\n

Under the circumstances, this seems like a subject the president should try to avoid and might hope people would forget. Trump, however, decided to brag about it at the U.N.<\/p>\n

This post updates our related earlier coverage<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

The post \u2018To the victor belong the spoils\u2019: In U.N. address, Trump brags about seizing Venezuelan oil<\/a> appeared first on MS NOW<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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