He even went so far as to say it was “our” oil a few weeks ago. That was quickly forgotten among a stream of other outrageous things that happen daily.

Today seems like a day to rewatch Team America: World Police

Maybe try learning something about oil extraction before making insane claims that it is even possible for an oil company to just roll up and "steal" oil and send it back to the US.

I'm no fan of Trump, and I believe he's basically gone rogue, but, literally, he never said what you say he said. If I missed something, please provide a reference, but I doubt you'll find anything. You simply misheard. He's been extremely brazen in mentioning such a crass topic as American interest in Venezuelan oil, which normally would be pushed vigorously under the rug, but he didn't go as far as saying that's the reason. The official (and preposterous by itself) reason is still the drugs.

My take concords with what @JumpCrisscross said elsewhere in this thread:

"HN sometimes has trouble understanding coalitions. Some support for oil. Some want to unseat a dictator. Some are concerned about Venezuela being a hive of Chinese, Russian and Iranian activity. Some did it to destabilise Cuba, or lay the groundwork for hitting Iran. Still others are just plain psychopaths and like blowing things up."

I would add that personal pique probably had as big a part in this decision as anything else.

That's the last place I would ever check to find out why a government did something

People, not only patrons of HN, like simple answers.

They look at clouds and see the patterns they want to see.

It turns out things are usually more complicated than that.

Personal pique probably, sadly, also played a role.