Trump doesn’t operate on what the US needs, though. Not even to the extent of wanting to steal another country’s oil on its behalf.

Or at least, that is my guess. I have to say, I can’t arrive at any other possible explanation for why he’s doing this. My random guess is that it has something to do either with Maduro, or with wanting to ship migrants to Venezuela and Venezuela not wanting that, but who the fuck knows. For all I know it might be oil. But I don’t think the wavelength Trump operates on includes anything as coherent as wanting another country’s oil or even really having a grasp on the idea that Venezuela has a bunch. I think he thinks that oil comes from the Middle East, and rapists and dirty gardeners come from South America, and that’s pretty much the extent of it.