The US president is seeking to emphasize military operations in Latin America as the Iran war poses a medium-term economic threat.
US President Donald Trump will introduce a ship carrying Venezuelan oil during a visit to Texas and hold two rallies in back-to-back hopes of boosting Republicans’ chances in the Senate runoff elections.
Speaking in Corpus Christi on Tuesday during his fourth visit to the state this campaign, President Trump pointed to a ship in the distance.
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“We have one million barrels of oil on board from Venezuela,” he said, adding that the shipment “is thanks to our great victory in the recent war with Venezuela.”
The increased focus on oil comes as American consumers are struggling with soaring fossil fuel prices amid the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, a key issue in the upcoming midterm elections.
“We are celebrating the greatest oil victory in history,” President Trump said.
It was not immediately clear on what pretext the oil was being shipped or whether the details provided by Trump were accurate. Before the United States abducted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on January 3, the United States was receiving oil shipments from Venezuela, but the shipments have increased this year.
In August, the Trump administration announced an agreement that would give the Pentagon a 35% stake in a new company, North America Blue Energy Partners, which would manage 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. The White House said in September that the first shipments under the deal would likely impact U.S. reserves in November, but experts have questioned whether the deal would have a short-term impact.
President Trump told reporters earlier in the day that the shipment was a “gift” from Venezuela. The country’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, did not comment on the specific cargo.
At the rally, President Trump also referred to Venezuela as the “51st state.”
major races
Trump’s frequent visits to Texas highlight the state’s importance to Republicans.
President Trump endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican primary. Scandal-hit Paxton now faces a disciplinary race against Democrat James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian.
Polls regularly show Talarico leading Paxton, but that lead generally remains within the margin of error. The average RealClearPolitics poll had Mr. Talarico leading Mr. Paxton by 1.7 points.
Talarico’s victory would mark a major change in a state that has not elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994.
It would also be a major rebuke to Trump as Republicans struggle to maintain narrow control of the Senate. Democrats are widely expected to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the Nov. 3 vote.
Mr. Talarico has used the final moments of the campaign to highlight long-standing corruption allegations against Paxton and contrast them with voters’ concerns about affordability.
“Ken Paxton represents everything that’s wrong with this broken, corrupt system,” he said at an event in Houston last week.
Paxton has sought to paint Talarico as too “radical” for Texas, saying his policies hurt the state, which is known for its pro-business policies.
Mr. Trump and other administration officials, particularly Vice President J.D. Vance, have regularly focused on cultural issues and have distorted Mr. Talarico’s past statements on transgender rights and border security.
Speaking in Corpus Christi, Trump repeated those attacks and urged his supporters to vote as if they were on the ballot.
“If you go out and vote, we will win by a landslide,” Trump said.
