A lot of hoopla is being made about Trump’s statement that we should go to war with Venezuela because “They have oil.” The problem is that Trump is stating what has been, official American policy for a very long time. Starting wars, or overthrowing governments is old hat in the game of making money. Trump is just the first president we’ve had to state it baldly.
My favorite personality in this dialog is one Smedley Butler. If you don’t know him, let me introduce you to him by his most famous quote.
“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”
The reason that he wrote a book about his… “adventures,” was that he was asked to overthrow the government of the US by a set of the Robber Barrons. Oh yes, they denied it, but Congress essentially found what he claimed to be factual, and did nothing. Ah to have enough money.
If you are versed in America’s more recent history, you know that Saddam Hussein was our guy, up until he threatened our oil out of Kuwait. Yes, he gassed Kurds and murdered Shites, and that was okay, but threaten our money, nope. And of course, those in the know have heard that when we invaded Iraq, we didn't send troops to protect people or infrastructure, well, unless it was oil related. We got that down pat.
Yes, our history is a virtual panacea of invading countries for profit and gain. And when that doesn't work, we use the CIA to overthrow the government so that we can insert someone who views the making of money by American capitalists as paramount. See the Shaw of Iran for example. We overthrew a democratically elected President because he had the unmitigated gall to think that the money from oil in his country should go to his people, silly man. And of course, there are all of our more recent shenanigans in Central and South America. Pinochet, Iran Contra, Panama etc.
Yes, Trump isn’t setting a new course for America, stepping outside our norms. He’s proposing to do what we’ve always done, he’s just being refreshingly open… and stupid about it.
Even if we look at the disaster that is Venezuela, you see the not so subtle hand of capitalism and American greed. Venezuela was ruled for decades by a rich upper class who dutifully sent oil to the US. While they got rich, the rest of the country fell into ruin. Chavez, like him or not, got elected and immediately turned oil revenue away from the rich upper class and back towards the people. He even had some success, so much so that America plotted with Venezuelan oil interests to overthrow him in 2002.
Now, I’m not saying Chavez was a nice guy, but our help in this overthrow wasn’t about removing a bad leader, it was about oil revenue. And of course, this brings into light the fact that even Trump’s worst ideas aren’t his own, he steals them from other idiots. Now, who was president in 2002?
So yeah, Trump is an idiot, but he isn’t the first American president to think that overthrowing a government for profit is a good idea, that is the norm.