Claims 'to the victor belong the spoils,' says U.S. should have 'kept the oil' from Iraq

At NBC's Commander-in-Chief Forum, Trump stated 'we should have taken the oil' from Iraq, invoking the phrase 'to the victor belong the spoils.' He argued this would have reimbursed the U.S. for war costs and prevented ISIS from forming. Legal experts immediately condemned the proposal as a potential war crime under international law, which prohibits pillaging conquered territories. This represented the first major televised articulation of Trump's resource-extraction philosophy toward foreign nations.

"To the victor belong the spoils. I always said: Take the oil."