Trump doubles down on Venezuela being the '51st State' in post

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

May 13, 2026, 4:12 p.m. ET


President Donald Trump doubled down on his comment that he's "seriously considering" making Venezuela the 51st U.S. state, posting a map of the oil-rich country with an American flag.

In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, May 12, as Trump was en route to China for a high-stakes summit with President Xi Jinping, the president posted a map of Venezuela with an inset American flag and the caption “51st State.” The White House also shared a screenshot of Trump's post on X.

Trump’s post came roughly 24 hours after he told Fox News correspondent John Roberts on Monday, May 11, that he was now “seriously considering a move to make Venezuela the 51st state.”

But Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez told reporters on Monday that her country had no plans of being annexed by the United States, according to the Associated Press. “We will continue to defend our integrity, our sovereignty, our independence, our history,” Rodríguez said at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, adding that Venezuela is “not a colony, but a free country."

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/05/13/trump-venezuela-51st-us-state/90064907007/

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So at latest count, would Canada be "the 52nd state" and Greenland "the 53rd state", and Cuba"the 54th state"? ::goofy:

[wcmagumba]

1. Dunce, you're gonna need a bigger flag...

[Ray Bruns]

6. Still one of the best movies ever made!

[Bayard]

2. They're just not that into you, doofus

Per a quick AI query:

No, a U.S. president cannot declare another country to be a U.S. state. The U.S. Constitution grants the exclusive power to admit new states into the Union to Congress, not the president.Making another country a U.S. state involves a lengthy legislative and diplomatic process, rather than a unilateral presidential declaration.The Statehood Process Under the Admissions Clause (Article IV, Section 3) of the U.S. Constitution, Congress holds the sole authority to admit new states. The process requires:Congressional Approval: Both the House of Representatives and the Senate must pass legislation admitting the new state, usually referred to as an "enabling act". The president must then sign this bill into law. International Agreement: To absorb an entirely foreign sovereign country, the two nations would likely have to negotiate formal treaties. The president has the power to negotiate or sign a treaty, but it requires a two-thirds ratification vote in the U.S. Senate.Internal Integration: The foreign country or territory would need to hold votes to demonstrate that the majority of its citizens desire statehood, adopt a state constitution that aligns with the U.S. Constitution, and agree to transition to U.S. laws, currency, and federal taxes

Not going to happen.

[JoseBalow]

3. Wait until someobody tells him that Venezuela is full of

Venezuelans

[LudwigPastorius]

4. Venezuela, but NOT Puerto Rico or Washington D.C.

That would just be cA-RAY-ZEEeeeee.

[GiqueCee]

5. Yo. Shit-For-Brains...

... the citizens of Venezuela might like to have say in whether or not you can hijack their entire country on one of your psychotic whims.

Note to Republicans: You assholes OWN this worthless bag of excrement for the rest of eternity, and it will never be forgotten, and it SURE as hell will never be forgiven. Every one of you is just as much a traitor as he is.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. MaddowBlog-Trump adds yet another foreign country to his list of possible new U.S. states

The point isn’t that Venezuela is poised to become a state. Rather, this is about the president changing the nature of a broader debate.

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-adds-yet-another-foreign-country-to-his-list-of-possible-new-u-s-states

Earlier this year, on the first anniversary of his second inaugural, Donald Trump posted an item to his social media platform that raised eyebrows here and abroad. It showed the Republican president in the Oval Office alongside a large image showing much of the Western Hemisphere, including the entirety of Canada and Greenland covered in American flags, as if they were part of the United States.

But those who looked closely might have noticed that there was another country, farther down in the image, that was also covered in the red, white and blue: Venezuela, which Trump had bombed two weeks earlier.

Trump posts an image depicting Canada and Greenland as part of the United States

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-01-20T06:09:46.203Z

.....This week, he made clear that the idea remains on his mind. USA Today reported:

More than five months after the United States captured now-former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump has again suggested that his administration would try to annex the oil-rich country.

The president told Fox News correspondent John Roberts on Monday, May 11, that he was now “seriously considering a move to make Venezuela the 51st state.”

His serious considerations notwithstanding, there’s no reason whatsoever to think this is likely to happen. Indeed, Delcy Rodríguez, the acting leader of Venezuela, wasted little time in pushing back against Trump’s reported comments, telling reporters that Venezuela would “never” consider the idea of statehood because the country loves its independence and would continue to defend it.....

Since getting elected to a second term, Trump has repeatedly talked about trying to make Canada the 51st state. There was related talk about making Greenland a state, too. Now, evidently, the incumbent American president has related ambitions about Venezuela.

Those who hear such talk and shrug it off as nonsense are right to be skeptical, but I’m struck by the fact that in GOP circles, it’s not uncommon to hear Republicans condemn Democratic talk about making the District of Columbia and/or Puerto Rico states. Indeed, just last week, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin mentioned this during an on-air interview as if it were part of his own personal nightmare.

And that’s precisely why I’m interested in Trump’s incessant talk about adding to the United States: The more the president focuses on this, the more this becomes less of a debate about whether to add new states and more about which states to add.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. I'm sure Xi would see this encouraging, with respect to his designs on Taiwan

China can now go "we're talking about annexing an island that has a historical link to China, and where the Chinese UN seat was held to be located for over 20 years, while This Fucking Guy is talking about seizing a country that has never had a link to the USA".