'Jaw dropping': Ex-Trump appointee skewers president for 'very concerning' post-strike act

Whether the Trump administration was right to capture Venezuela's leader or not, it's what the president did next that is "very dangerous," according to a former Trump appointee.

Matthew Bartlett, who was appointed to the State Department by President Trump during his first term, appeared on MS NOW over the weekend and was asked about how Venezuelans will be impacted. Specifically, the host asked, "What did youlearn from working around thisregion about what an actionlike what happened yesterday,what that can do to thestability of the region?"

He replied, "Great question. I mean,this was a notion, as youmentioned, the first term whereyou had Venezuela justcollapse internally. I rememberin coordination meetingstalking about the exodus ofpeople being called somethingof an x ray of the country,just people coming out workingto get medicine and refugees."

He continued:

"When countries collapse, theydon't do it in neat and orderlyways. Now flash forward, wehave regime change. And whatdoes that mean? We just saw apress conference yesterday thatwas jaw dropping of thepresident assumingresponsibility, saying we'regoing to run a country. A verydifficult task. So again, Ithink we've seen kinetic action.And good people of good faithcan have disagreementswhether or not this wasjustified, but moreimportantly, what comes next?"

According to Bartlett, "that's where thequestions continue to linger."

"Maybesome people did, but Donald Trump did not think about whatthe action after action wouldactually look like," a host said, prompting Bartlett.

Saying Trump was offering "mixed messages" in a "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" fashion, the former appointee said it's "very concerning" and added, "It's a slippery slope."