When recently discussing oil prices on air with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Donald Trump blustered on about the scheming malfeasance of OPEC and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Trump insisted the U.S. could leverage its military supremacy to persuade OPEC to lower prices. In his words: "I'm going to look 'em in the eye and say, 'Fellas, you'd have your fun. Your fun is over.'" But this rather naive suggestion of bullying one of the U.S.'s most longstanding and essential allies in the Middle East — not to mention the recent customer in a megabillion-dollar U.S. weapons sale that would create tens of thousands of American jobs — was comparatively harmless when set against his next suggestion. Trump bemoaned U.S. costs sustained during its wars in the Middle East and floated the idea of "taking" Iraqi oil. Stephanopoulos countered incredulously, "So, we steal an oil field?" Trump responded, "Excuse me. You're not stealing anything. You're taking — we're reimbursing ourselves." Given how many U.S. leaders have had to stress to their Middle East interlocutors that they're not in it simply for the oil, Trump would be starting off regional relations on pretty slippery ground.