The “Too Cute” Doctrine: Inside the Meeting Where Venezuela Policy Went to the Window
ExxonMobil calling Venezuela uninvestable was supposed to be the clean, boardroom-ready takeaway of the week. It was a cold, calculated assessment from a company with a long memory and a massive balance sheet. But in a room where policy is increasingly dictated by instinct rather than white papers, that corporate logic did not just land flat: it triggered a confrontation.
This was not a tightly run strategy session about energy security or regional stability. It was a meeting that revealed a widening chasm between the way global corporations calculate risk and the way Donald Trump calculates loyalty. When Exxon leadership laid out their case for staying away from Caracas, Trump did not offer a nod of agreement. Instead, he turned on them. He accused the oil giant of being too cute with their investment strategy and threatened to sideline the company entirely if they did not align with his vision for the region.
The View, The Note, and the Policy Drift
The tension with Exxon was only part of the story. The meeting itself was a masterclass in the off-script presidency, featuring the kind of wandering focus that critics often point to as evidence of deeper issues. At one point, Trump stood up mid-discussion, walked to the window, and interrupted the flow of the room with a casual observation. What a view. It was not a segue. It was a pause that momentarily froze aides who were trying to figure out if the conversation about hemispheric collapse had just ended.
Then came the note. In a move that felt more like a performance than a briefing, Trump picked up a private message from Marco Rubio and began reading it out loud to the room. Not a summary, not a sanitized version, but the raw, private text of a key ally. The effect was awkward and deeply revealing. It reinforced the sense that the traditional guardrails of diplomacy and confidentiality have not just been moved; they have been dismantled.
A Strategy of Performance Over Substance
This is the environment where Venezuela policy now lives. It is a world of performance, personal grievances, and sudden pivots. The “too cute” label Trump slapped on Exxon is a perfect example. To Exxon, Venezuela is a graveyard of assets and a legal minefield. To Trump, Exxon’s hesitation looks like a lack of nerve. The threat to sideline the company is a remarkable moment in American political economy, suggesting that the uninvestable label is becoming a point of contention between the White House and the private sector.
The problem is that while the administration is busy fighting with its own oil companies, the actual plan for Venezuela has vanished. We have sanctions that have become a permanent fixture rather than a lever for change. We have a regime in Caracas that has proven it can outlast maximum pressure. And we have a U.S. administration that seems more interested in the optics of the struggle than the mechanics of a solution. Inside the meeting, that lack of direction was palpable. Venezuela was treated as a fact pattern to be reacted to, not a crisis to be solved.
From Caracas to Greenland
As the discussion about Venezuela hit a wall, the conversation drifted. Almost seamlessly, the focus shifted from the collapse of a South American petro-state to the potential of Greenland. Trump began talking about Greenland again, framing it as strategic, valuable, and a real opportunity. The contrast was brutal. Venezuela represents complexity, decay, and the slow grind of institutional failure. Greenland represents a clean slate and a real estate play.
It is easier to talk about buying an island than it is to talk about fixing a broken country. Exxon’s verdict that Venezuela is uninvestable is a symptom of a deeper rot, but the White House’s reaction is a symptom of a different kind of problem. When private capital walks away, it reflects a loss of confidence in governance. When the government reacts by threatening its own companies and then drifting into monologues about Greenland, it reflects a loss of confidence in strategy.
The meeting did not just show that Venezuela is a mess. It showed that the people in the room are increasingly looking for the exit, or at least a better view from the window. For readers at LiveNewsChat.eu, the takeaway is clear: the world’s largest oil reserves are currently being managed by a policy of distraction.