Trump’s 2023 speech on Venezuela resurfaces: ‘We would have gotten that oil’

Many online have been focusing on a Donald Trump speech from 2023, in which he said the US was close to taking control of Venezuela during his first term in office – and that they could have “taken it over” and “gotten all that oil”.

The clip is taken from the run up to the 2024 election, and it’s resurfaced following the shocking attacks on Venezuelaand a military operation that captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

Speaking at a rally in North Carolina back then, Trump said: “When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over. We would have gotten all that oil. It would have been right next door.”

Many people on social media have revisited the quote from 2023, with commentator Brian Allen writing: “Months before the 2024 election, Trump literally said out loud that he wanted Venezuela to collapse so the U.S. could swoop in and take the oil.

“Fast forward to 2026, he’s bombing Caracas on the first full moon of the year and calling it a ‘drug war.’”

Another wrote: “9 months before the 2024 election, Trump said he wanted Venezuela to collapse so he can take them over for oil, and now he's bombing Caracas on the first full moon of 2026. This was never about drugs. It was always about oil.”

Commentator Ash Sarkar wrote: "Trump has, in recent years, been very open about why he wants to pursue regime change in Venezuela. It's about the oil, pure and simple.

"And any media organisation which doesn't foreground this context is simply low-information parrot squawk."

One thing’s clear in all this: Trump failed at his resolution for 2026 just a few days into the year.

At his New Year’s Eve event at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday, the Republican – who has consistently campaigned for a Nobel Peace Prize - was asked if he had a New Year’s resolution, to which he replied: “Peace. Peace on Earth.”

Except, just days later (Saturday), Trump announced on Truth Social that the US had carried out “a large scale strike against Venezuela” and President Nicolás Maduro, which saw the leader and his wife “captured and flown out of the country”.

Why not read…?

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