The president is throwing blood for oil in Venezuela. It’s a dangerous mission, a corrupt deal and a lawless precedent. Congress must stop this recklessness before it costs the lives of American troops.
One of us is a congressman who commanded Marines during jungle training in Latin America. The other is a state representative and U.S. Senate candidate from Texas, the nation’s largest oil producer. We are both members of Majority Democrats, a group of elected leaders committed to rebuilding trust among the exhausted majority of Americans. Whether we look at it from the perspective of the military or the Texas middle class, we agree: Republicans in Congress are failing to stem the war mongering.
The president’s attacks on Venezuela have left the gangsters running the country in place, but informed them that their oil is now his. To understand this, President Donald Trump has made it clear that he wants the US oil giants to start rebuilding Venezuela’s abandoned energy infrastructure. That is expensive and dangerous.
Chevron and the rest will want serious support from the US government. For starters, their staff and assets need security. Pro-Chavismo Venezuelan forces, left-wing Colombian terrorists and transnational criminal organizations are all threats. This is why the president refused to rule out American boots on the ground. He may need troops to serve as armed guards for oil extraction.
MARCO RUBIO EMERGES AS KEY TRUMP POWER PLAYER AFTER OPERATION IN VENEZUELA
The fire at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, can be seen from a distance after a series of explosions in Caracas on January 3, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)
The enemies waiting for Americans to be deployed to Venezuela have spent their lives traversing the jungles and rivers. The U.S. military, on the other hand, has trained two generations in patrol and close air support that require a long line of sight and no dense shelter. Jungle warfare would be a new and tedious mission.
Make no mistake, our Marines, soldiers and sailors would complete that mission. They are the best fighting force in the world. But they would be fighting for oil money for the rich – not for democracy, drug prohibition or a better future for Venezuelans. Hit by raids, cut off from fire support, infected by malaria – all in the service of crony capitalism.
Last year, Trump promised oil executives “a lot” if they donated $1 billion to his campaign. He now offers them 300 billion barrels of oil. It won’t make gas cheaper for Americans this decade. Projections for an additional 500,000 barrels per day would not result in a price drop in a market where more than 100 million barrels are sold daily. It also won’t bring jobs to Texas, where Chevron just laid off 200 workers in Midland.
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However, executives from Chevron and other government allies can gain power and wealth through control of the world’s largest oil reserve. As with tariffs, AI and his tax cuts for the wealthy, the president is once again pursuing policies that further consolidate wealth and power.
He also breaks the law again. The attacks on Venezuela are illegal. The president claims he is only using the military to support law enforcement in carrying out an indictment. Hard to take that claim seriously from a man who had American soldiers on their knees to roll out a red carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war criminal in Alaska.
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However, aside from its risks, the claim is bogus. Absent an imminent threat to the homeland, the president needs congressional authorization to use military force. There is no threat from Venezuela that is too urgent or existential for Congress to deliberate on. If the president were concerned about drugs (he isn’t), he could crack down on Chinese fentanyl exports (he isn’t).
Neither side should accept the precedent that a commander in chief can bomb cities and capture foreign leaders without so much as a phone call to Congress. It’s a recipe for more military adventurism, more blood and treasure lost through poor planning. The president is already enthusiastic about Cuba, Greenland and Colombia. The Republicans in Congress need to stop acting like sheep. Neither our military nor our economy would benefit from an indefinite deployment to Venezuela.
Democrat Jake Auchincloss represents the Massachusetts Fourth Congressional District in Congress, where he serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee.
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