What did Donald Trump do today?

He switched from threats to bribes in an attempt to make Venezuela make sense.

Trump's stated rationale for the attack on Venezuela was to force what was left of its government to allow American companies to take over production of its oil resources. This has quickly proven to be a massive miscalculation. He doesn't have the cooperation of the Venezuelan government, which is essential in the absence of an massive occupation by American troops. And he doesn't even have interest from the oil companies, because of the massive infrastructural investment that would be necessary to make those oil fields profitable.

Trump claimed to have met with the three major U.S. oil companies before and after the initial attack, but that is a lie, according to the companies themselves. He also claimed through a spokesperson that they were "ready and willing," which is obviously not the case. But in an apparent attempt to get them there, he floated the idea that the United States itself would reimburse those companies for the investment needed. 

In other words, Trump is saying that his plan is for American taxpayers to pay oil companies to extract and refine otherwise unprofitable oil in what would be—at best—a hostile occupied country, and then pay for the oil again on the open market. 

For the moment, oil production in Venezuela is down sharply following the attack, but at least some is getting out. Four tankers have run the U.S.-imposed naval blockade of Venezuela since the attack, and about a dozen since it was first imposed.

Why does this matter?

• Launching a destabilizing attack on another country that nobody wanted with no plan for how to deal with the aftermath is criminally stupid.