Trump Isn’t Policing the World—He’s Looting It

Summary

Podcast Summary: Bulwark Takes – "Trump Isn’t Policing the World—He’s Looting It"

Date: June 26, 2026
Host: Will Saletan, The Bulwark

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Overview

This episode, hosted by Will Saletan, sharply critiques former President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, framing it as a shift from traditional U.S. international leadership to open profiteering and extortion. Saletan walks listeners through a series of Trump’s recent actions and public statements, illustrating how U.S. military and diplomatic might has been repurposed for blatant material gain—calling it "piracy" rather than policing.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. From Aid to Profiteering in Ukraine

• Change in Policy: Trump reversed long-standing U.S. support for Ukraine, shifting aid to a transactional approach.
  • Trump quote: “Sleepy Joe Biden gave $350 billion to Ukraine and got nothing for it. I got rare earth back. I got I think value back far greater than that. But. And that's what he should have done.” (01:58)
• Saletan’s interpretation: Under Trump, the U.S. is “in the business of business,” selling rather than giving aid (03:01).

2. Invasion and Profiteering in Venezuela

• Oil Extraction for Profit: Instead of regime change, the U.S. left Venezuela’s government in place in exchange for oil.
• Trump quote: “Venezuela, by the way, has been amazing. We are really having a great relationship with that country, taking out tremendous amounts of oil, far, far more than that particular war costs. Many, many times.” (04:01)
• Bragging about Profit: Trump claims the U.S. made a profit “40 times” the cost of the invasion. He ridicules previous presidents for not using military power for profit.
  • Trump: “Where did you ever hear of getting money back from the war by 42 times over? Right, Pete? Nobody, nobody does that.” (04:35)

3. Planned Piracy in Iran

• Targeting Iranian Oil: Trump advocates for seizing Carg Island (Iran’s oil hub), comparing it directly to Venezuela.
  • Trump: “My preference has always been take Carg Island… You're going to make a fortune.” (05:23)
  • “We did it with Venezuela. Venezuela has worked out great for everybody…” (05:47)
• Truth Social Statement: Trump posts, “We will be taking Carg island and other oil infrastructure points and assume total control of their oil and gas markets, much like we have with Venezuela.” (07:31)

4. Controlling the Strait of Hormuz

• Charging Tolls as "Guardian Angel": Trump suggests the U.S. should “charge tolls” to allow oil through the Strait (08:24), and insists any tolls must “be imposed by and for the United States for services rendered as the guardian angel to the countries of the Middle East.” (08:34)
• Demanding a Share of Oil: Trump asserts the U.S. should take “20% of the oil that passes through the strait.” (10:02, reported by Trey Yingst)

5. Congressional Support

• Lindsey Graham’s Endorsement: Senator Lindsey Graham affirms Trump’s approach (10:20), stating:
  • “If this deal fails, President Trump is going to take the Strait of Hormuz over by force. The United States will control the Strait of Hormuz, will charge a fee for all those who go through to pay for the operation.” (10:39)
• Saletan’s Commentary: Points out Congress' lack of resistance to these policies.

6. Forced Agricultural Trade with Iran

• Coercive Trade Deals: Trump brags about compelling Iran to buy food exclusively from American farmers as a condition of unfreezing assets.
  • Trump: “...the food is going to be bought exclusively through the United States from our farmers. And corn, soybeans, all of the things they need are going to be bought from our farmers. So our farmers are very happy.” (11:13)
  • “…their people are very hungry and they're buying it exclusively from us. Corn, soybeans. There should be a lot of money.” (12:14)

7. Expanding the Model: Greenland & Gulf Allies

• Greenland Revisited: Trump continues to toy with notions of acquiring Greenland (13:14).
• Dominance Over Allies: Trump boasts about using Saudi airports at will: “Not that they could stop us if we didn’t want them to.” (13:31)

8. Limitless Power

• No Constraining Principles: When asked what he learned about the limits of power:
  • Trump: “There are no limits. No limits... I haven’t learned that lesson yet. I think that there are no limits. We have the most powerful military in the world by far.” (14:21)
  • Saletan: Emphasizes the ethical transformation from “good guys” to “pirates.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Trump (on Ukraine minerals): “I got rare earth back. I got I think value back far greater than that.” (01:58)
• Trump (on Venezuela): “Where did you ever hear of getting money back from the war by 42 times over? Right, Pete? Nobody, nobody does that.” (04:35)
• Trump (on Carg Island): “My preference has always been take Carg Island… You're going to make a fortune.” (05:23)
• Trump (on Strait of Hormuz): “We, I mean, we have a concept where we'll charge tolls.” (08:24)
• Senator Lindsey Graham: “President Trump is going to take the Strait of Hormuz over by force... will charge a fee for all those who go through.” (10:39)
• Trump (on U.S. power): “There are no limits. No limits... I think that there are no limits.” (14:21)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Profiteering in Ukraine: 00:59 – 03:01
• Venezuela Invasion & Oil Profits: 04:01 – 05:00
• Plans for Iran’s Oil, Carg Island: 05:23 – 05:58, 07:31
• Strait of Hormuz & Oil Tolls: 08:24 – 10:02
• Congressional Endorsements (Lindsey Graham): 10:20 – 10:39
• Forced Food Sales to Iran: 11:13 – 12:26
• Discussion of Greenland & Gulf Allies: 13:14 – 13:48
• Trump on Limitless Power: 14:21 – 14:37

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Conclusion

Saletan’s episode dissects how Trump’s foreign policy turns U.S. global power into a tool for plunder, not peace or order. The episode concludes with a sharp question for Americans: “What kind of country do you want to be?”—challenging listeners to reckon with a vision of America that uses its power for profit, not principle.

Transcript

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[Will Saletan]

it's will Salitan from the Bulwark. So if you are an American citizen, here's a question that you need to answer. Are you okay with your government using your military to steal money and resources from other countries? Are you okay with the United States of America becoming the world's most powerful criminal? Because what I'm going to show you today is that under Donald Trump, that is exactly what is happening. Let's start with a relatively mild form of profiteering. Ukraine. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, we sent, the United States sent military aid to Ukraine. But when Trump took over last year, he decided that that was stupid, right? We had leverage over Ukraine because they desperately needed military aid. So Trump use that leverage to force Ukraine to give us a share of their minerals. And here's what he said about that earlier this year.

[Donald Trump]

As you know, Sleepy Joe Biden gave $350 billion to Ukraine and got nothing for it. I got rare earth back. I got I think value back far greater than that. But. And that's what he should have done.

[Will Saletan]

So Trump says he got more value back from, from Ukraine in minerals then we gave them in weapons. In other words, we made a profit. And Trump says that, he says that's what Biden should have done. I mean, this is how Trump thinks about everything. He thinks, how can I use power, especially military power, to make a profit? Okay? And that is also why instead of giving weapons to Ukraine, Trump sells the weapons. Here's what he said last week about the war in Ukraine.

[Donald Trump]

We have nothing to do with it. We sell weapons to Them, we don't even give them. Obama gave him $350 billion worth of what gave, which was crazy. The European Union pays us full price for weapons.

[Will Saletan]

We have nothing to do with that war, says Trump. We don't really care about it. We are not in the business of helping democracies defend themselves. We are in the business of business. We're here to make a buck. So we'll sell weapons to Europe at full price, because under Trump, we're all about making money. So all of that started last year. We extorted Ukraine for minerals and we started selling weapons to Europe to profit from the war. But then, then in January, Trump went further. He decided that we would invade another country, right? Russia invaded Ukraine. We invaded Venezuela. But Trump decided that instead of ousting the corrupt, authoritarian government of Venezuela, we would leave them in power in exchange for oil. Here he is this week on Monday, bragging about it.

[Donald Trump]

Venezuela, by the way, has been amazing. We are really having a great relationship with that country, taking out tremendous amounts of oil, far, far more than that particular war costs. Many, many times.

[Will Saletan]

In fact, Trump says, we've made a profit from that invasion. We've made a profit that is 40 times the amount that we spent on the invasion. And watch the reaction off to the side from Pete Hexeth, our so called Secretary of War, when Trump talks about how much money we made.

[Donald Trump]

Where did you ever hear of getting money back from the war by 42 times over? Right, Pete? Nobody, nobody does that.

[Will Saletan]

Nobody does that, says Trump. He's ridiculing previous American presidents for not using our military to steal oil from other countries. And there is our Secretary of War standing there and nodding and smiling as our president brags about doing that. We are in the business of invasion for profit. We are pirates. And Trump is so happy, he's so happy with the money that we made in Venezuela that now he wants to do the same thing in Iran. Here's what he said two weeks ago about Carg island, which is the center of Iran's oil industry.

[Donald Trump (continued)]

Look, my preference has always been take Carg Island. That's been. Brian knows that. I spoke to him a long time ago. Lawrence knows it. I spoke to him a long time ago. I said my preference would be that I don't know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with you. You're going to make a fortune.

[Will Saletan]

Make a fortune, says Trump. We would make a fortune. And he said it would be just like Venezuela. This is a few seconds later in

[Donald Trump (continued)]

the same interview, but we did it with Venezuela. Venezuela has worked out great for everybody. We've taken millions and millions of barrels of oil out of Venezuela. We brought them to Houston and various other places.

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[Will Saletan]

and just in case anybody thought that Trump was only speculating about taking the island and taking the oil, Trump posted this message on Truth Social. He wrote, quote, we will be taking Carg island and other oil infrastructure points and assume total control of their oil and gas markets, much like we have with Venezuela, unquote. That is an explicit threat to do to Iran what we did to Venezuela. But there's another way that Trump could take oil from Iran, and that is to seize control of the Strait of Hormuz where the oil comes out. Here's what he said a couple of months ago when a reporter asked him about the possibility that Iran would charge tolls to let oil tankers through the strait.

[Donald Trump]

What about US Charging tolls, Is that something you're considering? I'd rather do that than let them have them run. Why shouldn't we? We're the winner. No, we, I mean, we have a concept where we'll charge tolls.

[Will Saletan]

Oh, oh. So we, we would charge a toll. We would use our military to control the strait and make other countries pay us to let their tankers through. But, I mean, come on, Trump was just kidding, right? I mean, he wouldn't actually do that, would he? Well, here's what he posted this week on Saturday, quote, there will be no tolls unless they are imposed by and for the United States for services rendered as the guardian angel to the countries of the Middle East. So we're going to call ourselves the guardian angel, and we're going to do what every guardian angel does, right, which is to extort money from the countries that were supposedly protecting. Now, you might ask, how big a toll does Trump want to charge for being the, the guardian angel? Well, it turns out he has an exact number in mind. Right. On Sunday, he gave another long interview to Fox News, and here's what he said, according to the reporter Trey Yingst.

[News Reporter / Senator Lindsey Graham]

President Trump telling Fox News that the US May take over the strait in the future if they have to, and collect tolls. The president described this as the United States being the guardian angel of the Strait of Hormuz and the Middle East. And the president said ultimately that would involve the US taking 20% of the oil that passes through the strait.

[Will Saletan]

20%. He wants 20% of the oil. That is not a guardian angel. That is, that's a protection racket. And it's not just Hegseth who's on board with all of the plunder. Here's what Senator Lindsey Graham told Face the Nation on Sunday.

[News Reporter / Senator Lindsey Graham]

I spent four and a half hours with President Trump Friday. Here's what I think will happen next. If this deal fails, President Trump is going to take the Strait of Hormuz over by force. The United States will control the Strait of Hormuz, will charge a fee for all those who go through through to pay for the operation.

[Will Saletan]

So I not pretend that Trump is completely on his own here. Congress did nothing, absolutely nothing, to stop him from stealing the oil in Venezuela. And there's no reason to think that they're going to stop him from doing the same thing in Iran. And now Trump is adding a third revenue stream, a third way to profit from his war in Iran. He is coercing Iran to buy food from American farmers. Here's what he said on Monday about the deal that he's negotiating with Iran.

[Donald Trump]

We're doing very well in terms of negotiating a fair, reasonable deal. One of the things that we are doing also, and it came up last night, is money that's being unfrozen is going to be used to buy food, and the food is going to be bought exclusively through the United States from our farmers. And corn, soybeans, all of the things they need are going to be bought from our farmers. So our farmers are very happy. I've had a lot of calls. They were very happy about that.

[Will Saletan]

Iran will buy food exclusively from us. Is that for some national security reason? Is it to help Iran? No, no. He says it's for the benefit of our farmers and they're very happy about it. He says we are creating an exclusive new market for the American agriculture industry by threatening Iran with the alternative of more bombing. And they have to buy the food because, as Trump says, their people are very hungry.

[Donald Trump]

They're supposed to use money to buy food for their people because right now their people are very hungry and they're buying it exclusively from us. Corn, soybeans. There should be a lot of money.

[Will Saletan]

Oh, I'm sure it'll be a lot of money. I mean, what choice? What choice do the Iranians have? They're hungry. We've got a whole armada sitting right there off their shore, like we did in Venezuela. So while we're there, why not force them to sign an agreement that the only place that they'll buy food from is us and the extortion will not stop in Iran. Trump is feeling very, very confident after he attacked Venezuela and Iran. And now he's got other targets in mind. Remember Greenland? Remember all last year he was threatening Greenland. Well, he's not giving up. So last week, when he went to the G7 meeting in Europe, a reporter asked him about Greenland, and here is what he said.

[Donald Trump (continued)]

Greenland.

[Will Saletan]

Did you talk about Greenland?

[Donald Trump]

No, we didn't discuss Greenland. I should discuss Greenland.

[Will Saletan]

Hey, while we're threatening our allies in Europe, why not also threaten our allies in the Persian Gulf? Check out what Trump said at the G7 meeting.

[Donald Trump]

I spoke to Mohammed. I spoke to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia a number of times. They're all so happy that they're still. You have to have them happy, too. You know, we're using their airports. Not that they could stop us if we didn't want them to.

[Will Saletan]

Not that they could stop us. He says these are our allies he's talking about. They literally just helped us in this war in Iran. And Trump responds by bragging that he's going to use their airports and they can't stop us. In fact, he says nobody can stop us. So listen to what Trump told Mark Caputo in this interview with Axios, which aired just a few days ago. What have you learned about not just the exercise of power, but the limits on your power as a result of the conflict?

[Donald Trump]

There are no limits. No limits. No, not. I haven't learned that lesson yet. I know there are, but, you know, there are no limits. We defeated them totally militarily. I think that there are no limits. We have the most powerful military in the world by far.

[Will Saletan]

No limits. He literally says there are no limits. Look, the government of Iran before we went in was really bad, and so was the government of Venezuela. They were nasty, nasty authoritarians. But we didn't take those governments out. We did not take them out. We left them in power and we cut deals with them. We got oil from Venezuela and we're getting exclusive rights to sell food to Iran, and we're threatening to seize oil from Iran and from anyone else who sends oil through the Strait of Hormuz. Look, there was a time in America when we were the good guys. We're not acting like the good guys anymore. We're acting like pirates. And what you have to decide if you're an American is whether that's the kind of country you want to be. See you next time. With my Sapphire Preferred card, we took a trip to a desert Oasis, earning five times the points on Chase Travel, two times the points on all other travel, plus $100 hotel credit.

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[Will Saletan]

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