In the wake of launching a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the state-building business.
In a remarkable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief stated that US forces had successfully captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then said that a delegation including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the troubled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "managing the nation" involves is uncertain, but the vow marks an sudden shift in direction for the president, laden with inconsistencies and daunting challenges.
A president who campaigned against "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who promised to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now betting his presidency on effectively rebuilding a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been undermined by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly optimistic.
He stated his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He pledged to recruit American energy companies to overhaul Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, providing financing for the American rebuilding project and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude deploying American soldiers to Venezuela to progress these efforts. "We do not fear boots on the ground…we had boots on the ground last night," he told reporters.
Trump, a vocal opponent of the US invasion of Iraq, will now have to heed the words of one of the American architects of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "You break it, you bought it."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has altered Venezuela's prospects – for better or worse.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago pledging to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has shown that he is ready to use military force internationally.
In the past week, he ordered air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites in Iran, suspected narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
Unlike past operations, which have mostly involved rockets and aircraft that reduce the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his commitments to the fate of that nation – are strikingly distinct.
His aim, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Response at Home and Abroad
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan might prove hard for some of Trump's backers to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who broke with the president after accusing him of abandoning his political base, was swift to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's endless use of force and support of overseas conflicts is understandable because we are compelled to fund it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong."
Another notable Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to retake confiscated US oil and halt fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "criminal regime" as "firm and legitimate".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it ensured US regional security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American foreign policy that declared the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Trump Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "protect trade, land and assets that are fundamental to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will raise broader questions in global politics, however, and impact American ties with the world's other major global powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement voicing shock and condemning what it said was a reckless attack on a sovereign nation.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable censures of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to mediate a peace deal between those two nations – one that has often appeared to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, expressed worry about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My primary worry is now Russia will use this to excuse their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an attack of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were sharper.
"America should not be running other countries for any reason," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have learned by now not to get entangled in endless wars and overthrow attempts that carry devastating consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he condemned Trump's choice not to inform congressional leaders prior to launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to follow the law and protect institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First demands."
Trump, in his remarks, explained that he chose not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "disclose" details of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That mission was a triumph – with no American casualties and minimal harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical bravado, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "among the most stunning, successful and impressive displays of American power and competency in US history."
Now he is staking his presidency on that victory continuing, as the US claims it will assume responsibility for administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that truly entails is unclear. He and his administration must fortify a nation that has been in turmoil for years while calming a hemisphere that is bound to be wary of what Trump's international strategy has in store for them.
