Too many people haven't outgrown the "no war for oil" knee-jerk narrative from the Bush era because the moment Maduro was perp walked in front of X users, members of the left, from the moderates to the commies, dusted off their old slogans and began shouting them from the summit of Mt. Self-Righteous.
Read: Madre de Dios! Corrupt Dictator Maduro Is Gone After Trump Warned Him
Even a few members on the right got in on the outrage. GOP Rep. Thomas Massie (KY-04) got up in front of the House to voice his displeasure.
Wake up MAGA. VENEZUELA is not about drugs; it’s about OIL and REGIME CHANGE. This is not what we voted for. pic.twitter.com/myxr979BqU
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) January 4, 2026
And to all that I say... yeah. Oil was, without a doubt, one of the biggest reasons we did it, and the move behind it is one of the smartest moves Trump has ever made.
It makes all the sense in the world to do so, and I think the person who actually put this best is Carl Benjamin, more popularly known by his YouTube name Sargon of Akkad.
Benjamin pointed out that what Trump is doing is the same thing one would do in a map game like Hearts of Iron or Crusader Kings. You're consolidating your strategic geopolitical position by seeing what resources are obtainable and effectively annexing places you can. Now, this isn't medieval Europe, and annexing looks a lot different today than it did then. Venezuela is still a sovereign state, but we've removed the blockage from our power, infesting the country with Maduro's extraction, and now we can begin moving our influence into it through American oil companies.
You can also see what Trump is doing in various other countries, like Greenland, where trade routes and resources are abundant. We can make century-long deals for access and control of various parts on a political/corporate level that benefits both parties, one of which is effectively making the country a colony and something other nations like Russia or China don't mess with.
But let's go back to the oil in Venezuela for a moment.
Having an element of control over Venezuela's oil supply is great for us for obvious reasons. It becomes cheaper, for starters, but it also gives us some great economic leverage over other countries, especially those of our enemies.
Will the sale of Venezuelan oil to places like China or Russia completely stop? Probably not, but now we control the price, rather than the other way around. Oil is a critical resource, and while the "no blood for oil" crowd loves to sit on their moral high horse and pretend they're innocent of the bloodletting aspect of obtaining it, they consume oil just like everyone else does in various ways. They need it to maintain the lifestyle they utilize and enjoy while they pretend to reject the means of getting it. They want the baby without the birth pains. That's not how reality works.
However, Trump's capture of Maduro was probably the most painless way of getting control of oil the world has ever seen. He won't be acknowledged for it, but it's true.
Moreover, it's pretty crazy to me that the same people who were all about collapsing Russia and its despotic, war-making regime by any means necessary are now indignant that one of its largest oil sources has now been shut off. They should be dancing in the streets over this massive, crippling move, but because Trump did it, it's somehow bad.
That's not even mentioning the fact that Maduro's oil revenue was used to prop up narco-state terrorism and other criminal networks. That weakening is a net-positive for the globe, but when you're as ideologically obsessed as the left is, the only global good happens when they're the ones making the decisions, no matter how bad the decision is.
Watch: A Tale of Two Protests, San Francisco and Florida
I think we've become so comfortable with the safety and ease that America affords that we forget that geopolitics is a very dangerous game that we must play strategically, lest great suffering befall not just us, but many other countries as well. Despite what the left likes to claim, America is very much the good guy in the room, and by the grace of God, we're the ones holding all the cards. Trump is just playing them like we should've been for decades.
