> The associated tidal torque is about 2 orders of magnitude below the present day Venusian atmospheric torque That never occurred to me before this moment, bu

> The associated tidal torque is about 2 orders of magnitude below the present day Venusian atmospheric torque That never occurred to me before this moment, but of course the dense atmosphere would tend to exert some tidal drag. The above sentence indicates the atmosphere alone suffices to explain the slow rotation. But that would seem to flat-out contradict everything else said here. The atmosphere, not the ancient ocean, is the explanation. What am I missing?