What did Donald Trump do today?
He declared victory in Venezuela, all evidence to the contrary.
Trump posted a cheery message on his private microblogging service today: "I love the Venezuelan people, and am already making Venezuela rich and safe again."
The U.S. State Department had a message about Venezuela's safety today, too, urging any Americans still there to leave immediately and to take extreme precautions in doing so. Its bulletin urged U.S. citizens to leave while international flights were still a possibility, and warned of
reports of groups of armed militias, known as colectivos, setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for evidence of U.S. citizenship or support for the United States. U.S. citizens in Venezuela should remain vigilant and exercise caution when traveling by road.
It added that there were "severe risks to Americans, including wrongful detention, torture in detention, terrorism, kidnapping, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, and poor health infrastructure."
As for making Venezuela rich, Trump took pains to make sure that any money derived from the sale of seized Venezuelan oil was kept in an account only he could access—and not Congress, which the Constitution gives power of the purse to. Claiming that the sale of that oil would somehow amount to a national emergency, Trump signed an executive order late Friday night declaring it, for all practical purposes, a private presidential slush fund. The order claims that this makes the proceeds immune from any "attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execution, garnishment, or other judicial process," cutting out the judicial branch too.
Trump's happy gloss on the peace and prosperity of Venezuela comes a day after yet another failed attempt to interest American oil companies in what amounts to free oil. Oil executives called Venezuela "uninvestable" precisely because there is so little guarantee that Trump will ever be able guarantee peace or prosperity while trying to run an extractive industry through an non-complaint puppet government.
Why does this matter?
- Prematurely declaring victory never works.