The Trump administration is openly engaging in a blatant effort to overthrow the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. It’s a campaign aimed at regime change, and it’s being publicly promoted as an opportunity to steal Venezuelan oil for the benefit of U.S. corporations.

They’re not even pretending. But this is not some insane Twitter thought spewed by Trump after guzzling down gallons of Fox and Friends. It’s open imperialism, and it’s not just being embraced by powerful Republicans, but Democrats as well. This push for regime change in Venezuela did not appear in a vacuum. The CIA has been plotting with so-called rebels in Venezuela from the early days of the Trump administration.

As Donald Trump has cosied up to strongmen and dictators across the world — from Vladimir Putin to Mohammed bin Salman, Rodrigo Duterte, Kim Jong-un, el-Sisi of Egypt  — it seems that he’s found one so-called strongman that he can’t tolerate. And that leader happens to have the largest reserves of oil of any country in the world.