President Donald Trump has been remarkably explicit about the aims of his recent grab-and-go operation in Venezuela. In explaining why U.S. forces went in and out the country to capture Nicolás Maduro, Trump has articulated at least four objectives, all stated with relative clarity. The problem with the president’s goals in Venezuela is not lack of transparency, but a lack of compatibility. 

So far, the four stated goals of America’s strike on Venezuela have been: securing greater U.S. access to Venezuelan oil; curbing drug trafficking; halting Venezuelan migration; and democratizing Venezuela. This last goal has received the least emphasis and is perhaps the most dubious. But to be sure, each objective is incompatible with at least one of the others, if not all three. One—or several—will inevitably be sacrificed. In the process, Trump’s true priority will eventually be revealed.

The first stated goal is that the United States entered Venezuela to gain access to its oil. In a way, the oil would “pay for itself.” As Trump put it, this mission is “not going to cost us anything, because the money coming out of the ground is very substantial.” 

But the claim that the U.S. went in for the oil is puzzling. Geopolitically, the United States does not currently need additional oil. The U.S. has been an annual net total energy exporter since 2019. The greatest beneficent of American access to Venezuelan oil will not be everyday American consumers, but instead major U.S. oil companies, who provided significant financial support to Trump during his reelection campaign.

Either way, what is striking about this oil-centered hypothesis is how easily it could be accommodated without regime change. Many members of........

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