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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — President Trump stood in front of an oil tanker loaded with Venezuelan fuel Friday while boasting about his efforts to make life more affordable for Americans — but left viewers guessing as to his favorite in a three-way primary election for Senate.
Trump visited the port and refineries hub to tout his “energy turnaround” promoting fossil fuels after former President Joe Biden’s emphasis on renewal sources, saying that Texans must turn out in the November midterm elections to retain GOP majorities in Congress.
“360,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude are right now sitting in the tanker on my left. It’s a nice one,” the president boasted of the ship — less than two months after ordering a military raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to face federal drug and weapons charges.
Trump praised Maduro’s interim successor, Delcy Rodriquez, who has complied with his demands to send oil to the US and allow American companies to reclaim a leading role in the South American country’s oil sector.
“For the benefit of both our nations, we’re going to refine their oil right here in America and right here in Texas and then export it to all over the world. We’re going to keep some for ourselves,” Trump said.
“We’re going to give some to them, and they’re going to make more money than they’ve ever made before. We’ll help build their country again, which was a disaster, and we’re going to build it up, and we’re going to benefit also, and that’s the way we’re supposed to be, right? It’s going to be great.”
Trump called Venezuela “our new friend and partner” and said “I want to thank Venezuela, because our relationship is a very good one.”
Trump previously ordered the seizure of Venezuelan tankers that departed in the waning days of Maduro’s leadership. The whereabouts of those ships remained a mystery.
The president also crowed about US exports, celebrating the fact that “nationwide exports of liquefied natural gas are up 37% — think of that — in the past year, the highest level in American history. And going up a lot. Crude oil exports are up by hundreds of thousands of barrels a day.”
The visit was designed to underscore Trump’s messaging on “affordability” issues — and he noted too that there would be more generous tax refunds this year for senior citizens, car buyers and people who earn overtime and tips due to legislation that he signed last year.
“We inherited a mess one year ago — a mess! — and they came up with the word ‘affordability.’ And they said, ‘What are they talking about? They’re the ones that cause it, they’re cons, they’re liars, not good. Other than that, we want to have unity,” he said.
“We are we brought this country back. We don’t want to lose the midterm. We got to win the midterms. We got to get out. You got to get out, and we got to vote. We’ll keep it all going better, even than it is now.”
Trump appeared just days ahead of Texas’ March 3 primary elections — and didn’t tip his hand about his favorite in the high-stakes Senate race.
Incumbent Sen. John Cornyn is facing a challenge from two prominent rivals — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has been dogged by scandals, making him more vulnerable in a general election — and Houston Rep. Wesley Hunt.
Paxton is leading in GOP primary polls, with Hunt trailing in third.
Cornyn flew from Washington aboard Air Force One with Trump, but all three candidates received praise from the president, with Trump calling Hunt “a friend of mine who’s doing very well.”
“We have a great attorney general, Ken Paxton, Where’s Ken? Hi Ken. And we have a great senator, John Cornyn. Hi John. Thank you, John,” Trump said.
“They’re in a little race together. You know that, right? A little bit of a race — it’s gonna be an interesting one, right? They’re both great people, too.”
English (US)