Trump: Venezuela a Candidate for 51st State Because of Oil Reserves
For a second time yesterday, President Trump floated the patently crazy idea of making Venezuela the 51st state, apparently because he earnestly believes Venezuelans “love” him. And, importantly, the country boasts more than 300 billion barrels of oil reserves.
Trump told Fox News’s John Roberts that Venezuela would make a great state because of its oil reserves.
Two months ago, Trump said the same thing.
But the president apparently didn’t consult Venezuela’s top officials about U.S. statehood. Nor, apparently, did he consider what admitting Venezuela to the union would entail, what it would cost taxpayers, and how it would affect federal, state, and local politics.
“Venezuela Loves Trump?”
Trump first suggested statehood for the failed socialist kleptocracy in March after Venezuela defeated Italy in a semifinal game of the World Baseball Championship.
“They are really looking great!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Referring to U.S. forces capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro during a daring overnight raid on January 3, Trump wrote that “good things are happening in Venezuela lately!”
“I wonder what all this magic is about,” he continued:
STATEHOOD, #51, ANYONE?
Now, with a first shipment from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve — which is America’s emergency oil — headed for Turkey, Trump is apparently worried about his country’s supply of oil.
“Trump said in a phone call with Fox News that he is motivated by the estimated $40 trillion value of oil in Venezuela, adding that he is popular with the country’s citizens,” Roberts reported for Fox News Digital:
“Venezuela loves Trump,” Trump said.
Trump vowed to persuade U.S. energy companies to invest in Venezuela, Roberts observed, and top administration officials have been meeting Big Oil executives and urging them to do so.
“With the Trump administration now managing Venezuela’s oil sector, exports in April reached more than 1 million barrels per day, the highest level since 2018,” Roberts reported:
“As the President has said, relations between Venezuela and the United States have been extraordinary. Oil is starting to flow, and large amounts of money, unseen for many years, will soon be helping the great people of Venezuela,” a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Only President Trump can be credited for the revitalization of this newfound partnership — and the best is yet to come!”
The spokesperson did not provide details about what Trump’s plan to make Venezuela a part of the United States would look like.
The Venezuelan people’s burning love for Trump aside, the nation’s oil reserves are an estimated 303 billion barrels, more than 17 percent of the global total. That figure makes it No. 1 in the world, ahead of even Saudi Arabia.
Importing Poverty
For her part, Venezuela’s President Delcy Rodriguez said her country isn’t interested in statehood and would remain independent.
“We will continue to defend our integrity, our sovereignty, our independence, our history,” she said. Venezuela is “not a colony, but a free country.”
Aside from that not-insignificant problem, statehood for Venezuela comes with myriad problems, not least its poverty-stricken people.
The average yearly income for a Venezuelan is about $2,880. Americans earn between $65,000 and $69,000.
Venezuela’s per capita gross domestic product is about $4,140. America’s is $94,430.
No wonder the vast majority of Venezuelans — 80 to 90 percent — live in poverty. That would be about 25 million of its 28.6 million people.
Statehood would invite Venezuelans to flood the United States and enroll in state and federal welfare programs, but also enroll in the state and federal programs that would, inevitably, become available in Venezuela.
Venezuelans would also become eligible for Social Security and Medicare, programs that are teetering on the edge of insolvency.
Venezuela would get two seats in the U.S. Senate that would undoubtedly be Democratic, and also get seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, also Democratic. Venezuelans here would alter congressional districts and state and local elections.
Other Possible Additions
Venezuela isn’t the only apple of Trump’s eye. After the Maduro raid, Trump reiterated his desire to annex Greenland because “we need it.”
“I will say this.… We need Greenland from a national security situation,” he said:
It’s so strategic. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security. And Denmark is not going to be able to do it, I can tell you. You know what Denmark did recently to boost up security in Greenland. They added one more dogsled.… The European Union needs us to have it.
In keeping with that sentiment, nine days after Maduro’s arrest, GOP Representative Randy Fine of Florida introduced the Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act. It “authorizes the President to take whatever steps necessary to annex or acquire Greenland as a territory of the United States,” a news release explained:
The legislation also requires the submission of a full report to Congress outlining the changes to federal law required to ultimately admit Greenland to become an official U.S. state.
Another possible target: Colombia, because “it is very sick” and “run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”
“And he’s not going to be doing it very long,” Trump warned.
When a reporter asked what Trump meant, he repeated himself. Asked about a military strike against the nation, Trump replied, “sounds good to me.”
Trump also suggested that Cuba is a possible target for the ministrations of the U.S. military, and, given its proximity to the United States — 90 miles from Florida — is obviously another candidate for statehood.
