What did Donald Trump do today?
He basically declared war in a tweet accusing a country in South America of stealing our "land."
In a post to his private microblogging service tonight, Trump claimed he was going to impose a "blockade" on Venezuela with an American "armada" as retaliation for a laundry list of supposed crimes. Most notably, he floated the absurd idea that Venezuela either had taken "land" from the United States, or possibly was intending to in the future.
For the record: Venezuela has not "stolen" any land from the United States. It is its own country on a different continent.
Likewise, the oil it exports comes from inside itself. Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in 1976, when the man leading the government Trump is accusing of "taking" oil was 13 years old. By Trump's logic, almost the entire world's supply of oil is "stolen" from the United States.
Trump's unhinged tweet-declaration aside, it's not clear how much Trump's social media post has anything to do with his actual administration's plans—if any—for Venezuela. Trump personally doesn't seem to have, or want, much control over what his Cabinet does for the most part, and that's especially true on military matters.
What's more, the "blockade" is limited to oil tankers already under international sanction, which operate at constant risk of seizure almost anywhere in the world. American oil companies like Chevron reported that they were still doing business with the state-run Venezuelan company PDVSA tonight. Even so, the oil prices Trump routinely lies about spiked immediately after his post.
Recent opinion polls show Americans are deeply skeptical of Trump's claims that Venezuela poses any threat, and absolutely opposed to any kind of military conflict with it.