Article snippet: Posted at 10:30 pm on August 11, 2017 by streiff Earlier today, Rex Tillerson made the mistake of appearing at a press conference with Donald Trump when the subject of Venezuela came up and this happened: This is a partial transcript: You can nearly see the little “WTF” thought balloon above Tillerson’s head. Of course. There is always a military option but tossing it about cavalierly isn’t the way it has historically been done. This caused a mini-bubble of claims that Trump had threatened to use military force. John Noonan used to work at the House Armed Services Committee and works for Tom Cotton now. He’s not a Trump fan and to get him to defend Trump was quite an accomplishment by the AP. Just a short while ago, this came out of the White House: The situation in Venezuela is perilous and to a great extent Trump’s comment was unhelpful. It gives Maduro the excuse to paint his opposition as American stooges (much the way other people call their opponents tools of Russia) and Trump refusing his call probably didn’t hurt him any. Having said that, after making the statement he did, refusing Maduro’s call was the best course of action available. So there is that. Link to the full article to read more