From Iran to Venezuela to New York, Trump wants to control the world's oil

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In 1987, when Donald Trump was first flirting with running for president, he told an audience in New Hampshire that the United States should attack the "horrible, horrible country" of Iran, "and take over some of their oil." In the years since, Trump talked about grabbing control of the natural resources of Venezuela, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, and Libya, too.

For a long time — including during Trump's first term — this smash-and-grab idea to corner the global...