The Republican Socialists of America
A close friend is on the left. He can’t bring himself to read my blog, which is apparent since he texted me: “Good afternoon. I was amused at Trump’s announcement that the U.S. government is taking a controlling interest in a Venezuelan oil company, while his fellow Republicans said ‘Amen’ through their silence. By definition, that’s socialism. I look forward to your blog attacking the Republican Socialists of America!” My response was that if he actually deigned to read my blog, he would know that I have already done that many times. A dear friend of forty years who is a prototypical socialist: a downwardly mobile college-educated trust-fund baby — has ended our friendship, saying I’ve become a “tool of right-wing propaganda.” And she knows I got fired from writing a weekly column in Knoxville’s conservative paper because I was not 100 percent MAGA 100 percent of the time!
Who, me?
Listen once again all, I’ll say it again: Trump is a neosocialist and I abhor his economic socialism. His followers go wherever he leads with essentially zero pushback. Virtually all elected republicans (and democrats, for that matter) are unprincipled and will say and do whatever it takes to get elected and reelected. Republicans have watched what happens to colleagues who veer off the MAGA path — Bill Cassidy, Thom Tillis, Tom Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, John Cornyn, five Indiana state senators, and Georgia’s Brad Raffensperger come to mind. So to protect their own political futures while Trump is in office, they rubber-stamp whatever he favors with little if any resistance.
That’s why they’ve stayed largely silent while Trump embraces economic socialism — something they would fight tooth and nail if a democrat president tried the same thing. Our Tim Burchett and Martha Blackburn would be having apoplectic fits if Obama had tried to pull this off, Now? Silence. Maybe they figure they can reverse his actions once he’s gone. But unwinding this kind of policy is never as easy as it sounds. A future president is unlikely to be a Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher willing to relinquish the government’s newfound leverage over corporate America.
The U.S. government has already purchased shares in more than two dozen American corporations, concentrated mainly in high tech and natural resources. In several — like U.S. Steel and Intel — it holds veto power over corporate decisions. The Venezuela deal is something else entirely. The U.S. will hold a 35 percent stake in North American Blue Energy Partners, the second-largest private oil producer in Venezuela, along with veto power over the company’s board appointments. The arrangement also includes a 100-year lease on Venezuelan oil fields.
This is the same president who once said of Venezuelan oil “It’s the dirtiest, worst oil anywhere in the world” announced the deal on “Truth” Social saying that this is
“THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!”
At my direction, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, working closely with Highly Respected Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, and, through a partnership with private business, have secured majority U.S. control of more than 65 BILLION BARRELS of proven Oil Reserves in Venezuela, no cost to the American Taxpayer. This Historic Transaction MORE THAN DOUBLES American Oil Reserves, greatly increases our Oil Supply, and will substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future, while helping to continue to set Venezuela on a course toward Tremendous Success and Great Prosperity. This Transaction will greatly strengthen the already growing relationship between Venezuela and the United States! Thank you for your attention to this groundbreaking matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
North American Blue Energy Partners will be run by Alejandro Betancourt, a somewhat shady Venezuelan businessman close to Delcy Rodríguez — Maduro’s former vice president, whom Trump elevated to the presidency. Betancourt is a controversial figure who has faced money-laundering accusations from multiple countries over the past decade. Trump’s own assessment: “This is a proven operator… I’m not nominating anyone for sainthood here. What I am telling you is that this is a person that, in the past, has been helpful to the United States government.” Is this just more of Trump’s crony capitalism?
What could possibly go wrong with the American nationalization of Venezuelan oil?
The official U.S. investor is the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital, which will structure the investment through penny warrants — gaining an equity stake without spending taxpayer cash. What legal authority permits the Defense Department to invest in a foreign entity is unclear. But when has Trump ever worried about legal authority? His philosophy has always been “Do it until the courts make me stop.”
What is clear is that the deal throws the hope for Venezuelan democracy under the bus because it strengthens the strong arm socialists in power. The Trump administration has apparently decided it can fight socialism in Venezuela by cutting a socialist deal with Venezuela’s socialists. In reality, Trump shows little interest in restoring democracy there.
Following the announcement, Chevron — the only major oil company still active in the country — announced a $7 billion investment to more than double its production. Trump has been pressing other companies to follow suit, but most remain hesitant, citing the need for security guarantees and sweeping reforms to Venezuela’s legal and commercial framework before committing serious capital. Some have spent months negotiating with Venezuelan officials just to gain access to a limited number of fields. Why doesn’t Trump simply demand that Venezuela clear the path for U.S. companies? At this point, he and Rubio seem to be functioning as de facto heads of state. Perhaps if Trump pushed Rodríguez to reimburse ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips the billions they have sought in restitution since Hugo Chávez nationalized their assets in 2007, they might take the plunge.
Venezuela’s oil deposits lie beneath the Orinoco Belt, where extraction is difficult and costly. The crude requires heavy processing before it’s usable, and Venezuela no longer has the local expertise or infrastructure to extract it, let alone refine it. Bringing the industry back up to speed will take years and billions in investment — an enormous risk for anyone operating there, especially given that Venezuela has already nationalized the industry twice before. What happens if companies invest, develop the resource, and it gets nationalized again? Trump will be long gone by then. What would a future president do — invade?
Unsurprisingly, pro-democracy Venezuelans are disheartened by Trump’s foray into socialism. One critic said the deal “flies in the face of economic freedom and the principle of voluntary exchange that made the United States prosperous.” Another, Ricardo Hausmann, a former Venezuelan official who teaches at Harvard’s Kennedy School, called the deal “shameful” and told Rubio that “it will come to haunt you.” “You opted to use US power, not to free Venezuelans, but to go to bed with our oppressors.”
Even the Communist Party of Venezuela denounced the arrangement as an opaque handover of a major share of the nation’s wealth. Meanwhile, Democratic Socialist of America’s Angie Nixon who is the democrat’s candidate for Senate in Florida accused President Trump of pushing communism in the deal. She said “You just had a gentleman on who was talking about how he has taken over Venezuela. That sounds like communism to me. They’re taking over their oil reserves and wanting to sell them off. That is the epitome of what communism is and I am totally not okay with that at all.”
So now the communists don’t like communism?
Other democrats piled on. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen: “Let’s be clear: this isn’t a win.” Virginia Senator Tim Kaine accused the president of using Maduro’s ouster as cover to seize control of Venezuelan oil. Florida’s Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said that the deal needs to be halted: “Trump and Marco Rubio have intentionally left everything opaque … Trump did remove Maduro so he could get control over Venezuela’s oil and line his billionaire buddies’ pockets. That’s what this is all about.”
I’m still waiting on the broader Republican reaction — though Ted Cruz has at least called for free elections.
So will all of this neosocialist policy continue last once Trump leaves office? That is guaranteed and will come with even more socialism if economic illiterate JD Vance succeeds him – which I seriously doubt. In the meantime, I am waiting to see whether Trump moves to seize control of the AI buildout and force government stakes in those companies.
You read it here first.
haroldblackphd.com 