When a reporter had the nerve to ask what the United States planned to do with Venezuela’s oil, Secretary of State Marco Rubio didn’t flinch — he answered with the blunt clarity Americans expect from leaders who put our interests and moral obligations first. The short clip circulating online shows the press room going quiet because Rubio refused to dance around the obvious: the oil will be used to rebuild a shattered country and to deny corrupt kleptocrats the lifeline they used to fund crime.
That moment didn’t happen in a vacuum: this administration ordered a decisive operation that removed Nicolás Maduro from power and placed him into U.S. custody, an unprecedented action that finally holds a narco-authoritarian dictator accountable. The capture of Maduro on January 3, 2026, changed the practical realities on the ground and created an opportunity to right decades of theft and misrule.
Once the bad actor was out of the way, the U.S. moved quickly to secure Venezuelan assets that had long been used to line the pockets of corrupt elites and foreign adversaries. The administration announced plans to sell Venezuelan crude — an initial transaction valued at roughly $500 million and discussions of up to tens of millions of barrels being refined and sold — with the stated aim of directing proceeds to the Venezuelan people rather than Maduro’s cronies. That’s not theft, that’s recovery of resources used as a tool of oppression.
Make no mistake: critics who howl about “stealing” oil are convenient defenders of tyranny, not defenders of law or human dignity. President Trump and Secretary Rubio have both been crystal clear that the point is to dismantle criminal networks, restore legitimate governance, and make sure Venezuelan wealth benefits Venezuelans, not cartels or foreign powers. The press’s discomfort at hearing an answer that puts Americans and Venezuelans first only proves how far the media has drifted from common-sense patriotism.
Yes, some international lawyers and UN officials complain, and predictably the left calls for lectures about sovereignty and process. Let them — talk is cheap; results matter. When a regime has weaponized oil to traffic drugs, imprison dissidents, and bankroll terrorists, recovering those assets and using them to rebuild a nation and protect American security is a moral imperative, not a crime.
Americans who work for a living understand what Rubio’s answer means: we won’t let kleptocrats hold strategic resources hostage while our workers pay the price at the pump and our borders suffer. This administration showed backbone where past ones hesitated, and for once Washington looked like a government that acts in the national interest. If you want leadership that keeps America safe, restores prosperity, and stands for liberty abroad, Rubio’s straight answer was exactly the kind of unapologetic, patriotic clarity we deserve.
