America First? Trump Declares Himself Acting President of Venezuela |
Donald Trump’s “mandate from the people” apparently extends to foreign oil-rich nations.
The president informally declared himself “acting president” of Venezuela Sunday evening, sharing an edited variant of his Wikipedia profile to include the detail underneath his official 2025 portrait on Truth Social.
The line reads: “Acting President of Venezuela, incumbent, January 2026.”
The title addition also precedes details of his U.S. presidency.
The Truth Social post received more than 23,000 likes, and fielded replies suggesting that America should take over all of Latin America. “This is our hemisphere,” reads one response that included an image of a red, white, and blue map spanning from Greenland to Argentina.
U.S. forces invaded Venezuela earlier this month, bombing its capital, Caracas, as nearly 200 American troops infiltrated the city to capture its 13-year ruler, Nicolás Maduro. That’s left open questions about Venezuela’s political future and who will run it, especially as Trump and his officials tout that the military incursion was primarily to acquire the nation’s oil resources.
Trump has signaled that he would recognize Maduro’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as the face of the country. Rodríguez was recognized by Venezuela’s armed forces as its interim leader, and she was sworn into office shortly after Maduro was kidnapped.
In a press conference hours after Maduro’s abduction, Trump warned that Rodríguez would pay “a very high price” if she did not “do what’s right” with regard to helping American companies access Venezuela’s oil reserves.
On Tuesday, Trump announced that the U.S. would oversee the sale of some 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil, a sale that could be worth as much as $2.5 billion. The following day, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that America would continue to oversee and sell Venezuelan oil “indefinitely,” even after the government finishes chewing through the Latin American country’s stockpiled oil reserves.
In an interview with The New York Times published Thursday, Trump claimed that the U.S. will likely run Venezuela for years.
President Donald Trump suggested that being “disrespectful” toward law enforcement justifies the deadly use of force.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One Sunday, Trump offered a new excuse for why an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis: She wasn’t being very nice.
“We have to respect our law enforcement. At a very minimum, that woman was very, very disrespectful to law enforcement,” he said. “And you heard the same noises, you saw the same crunch that I saw. You can’t do that with law enforcement, whether it’s police or ICE or Border Patrol or anybody else.”
When asked whether the use of deadly force was necessary, Trump replied: “It was highly disrespectful of law enforcement, the woman and her friend were highly disrespectful. You saw that.” He even suggested that Good and her wife (whom he incorrectly identified as her “friend”) were “professional agitators.”
So, in Trump’s America, being disrespectful toward law enforcement is enough to get you killed.
The “crunch” sound that Trump was referring to was from the 47-second clip filmed from the perspective of Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot and killed Good. In the video, there is a loud sound as Good tries to pull away from the group of officers. But the crunch wasn’t Ross being hit—more likely, it was him shooting his service weapon through her windshield.
Even if what Trump was saying was true, that Good had been “disrespectful” to law enforcement, that wouldn’t justify her killing. But once again, the video evidence Trump was referencing quickly disproved his own claim.
The video taken by Ross as he stalked around her vehicle showed Good behind the driver’s seat, saying: “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” The president’s version of events conveniently ignored other footage that showed Good wasn’t actually blocking traffic and had waved the agents past her car, urging them to “go around!”
Instead of pulling around, the ICE agents swarmed her vehicle, pulling on the doors and demanding she “get out of the fucking car!” One witness even said that another officer ordered her to leave. When she attempted to drive away, Ross, who was in front of the vehicle, shot her at least three times.
Trump had previously claimed that Good “ran [the officer] over,” before reporters had to brutally point out that video evidence did not actually support that claim.
President Trump declared on Sunday that Iran crossed a “red line” after the country’s violent crackdown on anti-government protest, before walking it back.
“On Iran, have they crossed your red line yet to trigger a response?” a reporter asked the president while aboard Air Force One.
“They’re starting to, it looks like. And there seem to be some people killed that aren’t supposed to be killed,” Trump said. “You can call ’em leaders; I don’t know if they’re leaders … they rule through violence. But we’re looking at it very seriously … we’re looking at some very strong options.”
REPORTER: Is Iran crossing your red line?
TRUMP: "They're starting to. There seem to be some people killed!"
"Military is looking at it. We have strong options." pic.twitter.com/7L3dQeX5zo
But he then floated negotiating with the leaders ruling “through violence.”
“Iran called to negotiate [yesterday] … the leaders of Iran,” he told reporters. “I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States.
“A meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what is happening before the meeting, but a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
🚨 DEVELOPING — Trump says Iranian leaders have called him directly and want to negotiate.
“They called. They want to negotiate. A meeting is being set up,” Trump says — adding that the US may still act before talks take place “because of what’s happening.”
Clear signal:… pic.twitter.com/In6VzoD8vt
At least 544 protesters have been reported dead and 10,600 detained by the Islamic Republic of Iran as demonstrations enter their third week. Iranians are entering their fifth day without internet access.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell shot back at President Trump Sunday after the Department of Justice served the Fed’s board with grand jury subpoenas.
In a