President Donald Trump told Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough that the key difference between the United States’ intervention in Venezuela and America’s disastrous war in Iraq is simple: this time, the United States plans to keep the oil.

Scarborough revealed the exchange on Tuesday while opening MSNBC’s Morning Joe, describing multiple recent conversations with Donald Trump following the surprise U.S. military operation that led to the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

The U.S. action, carried out by Delta Force early Saturday, capped months of American strikes on vessels the administration said were involved in drug trafficking. Maduro was taken into U.S. custody in an operation Trump officials have described as swift and decisive.

Scarborough said he called the president on Monday hoping to gain insight into what the administration planned to do next in Venezuela. Instead, much of their roughly 20-minute conversation focused on Trump recounting the military operation itself.

“He talked an awful lot about the courage shown by those who raided Maduro’s fortress,” Scarborough said, adding that Trump praised the speed with which U.S. forces overwhelmed Cuban troops guarding the Venezuelan leader. According to Scarborough, the president framed the operation as a broader signal of American strength to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and Iran.

Trump has publicly said that the United States intends to play a central role in rebuilding Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, with U.S. energy companies moving in to restore production and get “the oil flowing the way it should be.” Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One late Sunday, Trump said the country’s vast energy resources would be critical to Venezuela’s recovery.

“But when I pressed comparisons with America’s failed occupation of Iraq, the president’s response was very different,” Scarborough said.

Scarborough recounted asking Trump whether his statements about “running everything” in Venezuela raised concerns given the outcome in Iraq.

“The president’s response,” Scarborough said, “was: ‘Joe, the difference between Iraq and this is that Bush didn’t keep the oil. We’re going to keep the oil.’”

Scarborough said Trump emphasized that his comments were no longer off the record, explicitly tying his current policy to remarks he made nearly a decade ago.

“In 2016, I said we should have kept the oil. It caused a lot of controversy,” Scarborough quoted Trump as saying. “Well, we should have kept the oil, and we’re going to rebuild their broken down oil facilities, and this time we’re going to keep the oil.”

“Saying the United States is entering a new era of geopolitical engagement seems to be an understatement,” Scarborough concluded.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)