The Slatest

Today in Conservative Media: Invading Venezuela Is Probably a Bad Idea

President Trump speaks to the press with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.

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A daily roundup of the biggest stories in right-wing media.

Conservatives were puzzled by Trump’s statement Friday that the United States could pursue a “military option” in Venezuela. “The U.S. government has taken a strong stance against Venezuela as the nation’s leader Nicolas Maduro has moved to consolidate power following weeks of violent clashes resulting from opposition protests in the streets,” the Daily Caller’s Alex Pfeiffer explained. “He described the South American nation as a ‘neighbor’ that would be easy to strike militarily. These comments came as Trump has been threatening a military response if North Korea continues provoking the U.S.” The Right Scoop’s “Fred T” posted a video showing U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley’s reaction to Trump’s remarks. “Must be a tough pill for his base to swallow after all their talk about ending globalism, foreign adventurism, interventionism, and all the other applicable -isms,” he wrote. “You have to feel bad for the two poor souls standing with him. Ambassador Haley in particular looks the worse for wear.” The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro warned that the comments threaten Trump’s credibility:

It’s fine for Trump to say that all options are open with regard to Venezuela. But going out of his way to threaten military intervention isn’t particularly useful — Maduro has been utilizing the supposed prospect of American intervention in Venezuela as a bugaboo in order to rally support for his horrifying regime. Furthermore, there’s no evidence that the United States has considered seriously any military action in Venezuela to this point.

All of which is a problem for credibility. When President Obama drew a red line in Syria and then refused to enforce it, the rest of the world took notice; Russia and China quickly became aggressive. Trump making empty threats may sound good to him on the morning shows when played back, but if he doesn’t fulfill those threats, then he becomes another paper tiger.

RedState’s Joe Cunningham wrote a post on Sen. Ben Sasse’s statement Friday that Congress would not “vote to spill Nebraskans’ blood based on who the Executive lashes out at today.” “Sasse is absolutely correct here,” he wrote. “Nicolas Maduro is a horrible human being, and Venezuela is all kinds of @#$%ed up right now. However, that doesn’t mean the United States needs to go in and ‘fix’ it with a military solution. That is the opposite of a good, rational idea.”

In other news:

Multiple outlets ran posts about the first female candidate for the Navy SEALs dropping out of training. “As previously reported by The Daily Wire, women, generally speaking, are unqualified for combat,” the Daily Wire’s Amanda Prestigiacomo wrote. “Moreover, sex-integrated units have been found to be far less effective and more injury-prone than all-male units.” Louder With Crowder’s Kacie Burnett:

Women, we already know you can be tough. Possibly even “my idea of a date is me kicking your ass” tough. Alas, pure toughness doth not a Navy SEAL make. Hence tons of super tough dudes are constantly dropping out of the SEAL program. The entire point of their screening process is to weed out the majority of applicants because they only want the absolute best of the best of the best. You feel me?

This is what equality looks like (see First Woman to Enlist in Combat? Yeah, She’s AWOL and Congrats Feminists: New Legislation Would Require Women Register for Draft). Women are free to apply but few will qualify, and even fewer – if any – will ever complete the training to become a SEAL. And yes, we can say the same for a lot of men. But no need to get your p*ssy hats in a twist, feminists. It’s not discrimination, it’s biology. Cuddle up to a male SEAL dropout for consolation.