Only a few days after United States forces struck Venezuela, which led to the capture and arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Americans are still attempting to come around to what, exactly, has happened.
Venezuela’s future remains uncertain. Though the South American country has sworn in a new president, as Maduro and his wife remain arrested on American soil, President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that “we” will run Venezuela.
Many Venezuelans — both in the country and around the world — have welcomed Maduro’s ouster, even if many of Maduro’s regime remain in power. Unfortunately, there are no real winners of the U.S. strikes on Venezuela — except for the American oil industry and Wall Street, that is.
Read Next: As Energy Bills Skyrocket Under Trump, Democratic Socialists Offer the Only Solution
Trump Hands Venezuela to the Oil Industry
Even before the U.S. military began to strike Venezuela in their attempt to capture Maduro, Trump aides had reportedly been reaching out to American oil companies to understand if they would be willing to return to the country.
Now, Trump is outwardly saying that American oil companies will return — even though it will likely cost them a lot of money to upgrade their aging infrastructure. Trump has even claimed the U.S. government will reimburse Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips if needed.
Trump wants U.S. companies to get Venezuela’s oil industry up and running in less than 18 months. Whether American companies will truly follow the president’s orders remains to be seen. So far, the top three oil companies haven’t shown any signs of wanting to return to Venezuela — especially as the situation of who, exactly, runs the country remains unclear. Sanctions and the threat of seizure continue to be a major problem for these companies.
Meanwhile, Wall Street has also won big on these Venezuela strikes. Many investment firms that have held billions of dollars in distressed Venezuelan assets now seem prepared to reap the rewards.
Read Next: Trump is Using the Presidency to Put His Name on Everything
MAGA Remains Split on Trump’s Military Action
While big American oil corporations and Wall Street are already seeing potential rewards, the American public isn’t. While Trump has claimed that more oil will lower gas prices, analysts have claimed that more oil flooding the market likely won’t happen — especially as oil companies won’t want this to impact their revenues.
Americans also aren’t overwhelmingly backing these strikes. A new poll revealed that only one-third of Americans supported the military strikes on Venezuela, and 72% of Americans are worried that the U.S. will become too involved with Venezuela.
Meanwhile, MAGA has become split over whether to support these strikes or not. Many MAGA officials have backed the president. However, influential conservatives — such as Candace Owens and former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene — have come out against these strikes, reminding conservatives that they voted for Trump because he was supposed to end so-called “forever wars.”
That doesn’t appear to be happening. After all, Stephen Miller has already insinuated that Greenland is next.
Read Next: Mitt Romney Wants Rich People to Pay More Tax, Including Him