THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?

SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do).

• President Trump suggested Tuesday that Venezuela could become America’s 51st state, complete with an elected governor instead of a president.
• Speaking at the Port of Corpus Christi, he pointed to a tanker he said was carrying one million barrels of Venezuelan oil at no cost to American taxpayers.
• Trump celebrated America’s victory over the former Maduro government and invoked the phrase “To the victor belong the spoils.”

LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time).

Donald Trump went to Texas to talk about oil. By the time he finished, he was proposing a rather spectacular addition to the American real-estate portfolio: Venezuela.

As the 51st state.

With a governor instead of a president.

Apparently, winning control of an oil deal just isn’t enough when there’s an entire country available for discussion.

Speaking Tuesday at the Port of Corpus Christi, Trump celebrated what he described as a historic American oil victory following the January military operation that removed Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro from power.

His backdrop was a massive tanker carrying what Trump said was one million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil.

For a president who has never met a visual prop he couldn’t turn into a political production, it was an impressive piece of staging.

Trump began with an old-fashioned declaration about the rewards of victory.

“To the victor belong the spoils, right?” he told the crowd.

He pointed toward the tanker and praised the new arrangement with Venezuela, saying the oil was being supplied at zero cost to American taxpayers.

Then the president moved from petroleum economics to constitutional geography.

“It will become a prosperous country, and who knows, maybe someday soon it will become a prosperous 51st state,” Trump declared.

He continued: “That’s possible. Let’s make it. Let’s make it the 51st state. And instead of a president, we’ll have an election for a governor. How about that?”

There it was. Venezuela, a country of roughly 28 million people, casually invited into the American family during what began as an energy speech.

Trump returned to the country’s immense petroleum wealth, acknowledging billionaire oil executive Harold Hamm, who was in attendance.

The president joked that Venezuela had so much oil that a person could practically find it bubbling out of the ground.

Venezuela possesses some of the world’s largest proven petroleum reserves, but its oil industry suffered years of declining production, inadequate investment, government mismanagement and economic turmoil under its socialist government.

Trump now portrays America’s relationship with the post-Maduro leadership as an extraordinary economic opportunity.

He told the audience that major energy companies were investing billions of dollars in Venezuela and predicted enormous benefits for American refiners and workers.

The speech also included a claim that America now enjoyed unprecedented control over major portions of the world’s oil supply.

Trump’s enthusiasm for the arrangement fits his longstanding approach to foreign policy: negotiate aggressively, secure tangible economic benefits and make certain everyone knows who got the better end of the bargain.

The proposed statehood arrangement is another matter entirely.

Adding Venezuela to the United States would produce an almost unimaginable debate over sovereignty, citizenship, congressional representation and the constitutional requirements for admitting a new state.

But such complications rarely prevent Trump from announcing a grand idea in front of a cheering audience.

He has already entertained extraordinary territorial proposals involving Greenland and Canada. Venezuela now joins the conversation, with a rather substantial petroleum incentive attached.

The speech came as Trump campaigned in Texas ahead of the November 3 midterms, making energy prices and American economic strength prominent themes.

With gasoline prices and the administration’s foreign-policy decisions under scrutiny, the president was eager to highlight an energy arrangement he characterized as a major American victory.

But it was the statehood suggestion that transformed an ordinary oil-industry appearance into an international headline.

Trump has always been comfortable with big acquisitions. This time the property under discussion comes with enormous oil reserves, an entire national government and a few million people who might have opinions about the proposed change of management.

DBS WIRE SOURCES (I’ve got all day).

• Roll Call Factba.se — Full transcript of Trump’s October 27 remarks
• The Guardian — Venezuela statehood remarks and oil tanker
• Associated Press — Trump’s Texas appearance and election campaign