Following executing a evening of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the nation-building business.
In a notable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president declared that US forces had successfully seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then said that a team including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the troubled nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a safe, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "governing the state" entails is ambiguous, but the commitment represents an sudden shift in direction for the president, laden with inconsistencies and formidable obstacles.
A leader who ran on opposing "endless conflicts", who sharply criticised past US attempts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now betting his presidency on successfully reconstructing a South American nation whose economic system is collapsed and whose political stability has been undermined by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly optimistic.
He said his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no different. He pledged to recruit American oil firms to repair Venezuela's crumbling industrial infrastructure, supplying capital for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude sending American soldiers to Venezuela to further these efforts. "We do not fear boots on the ground…we had boots on the ground last night," he informed reporters.
Trump, a sharp critic of the US invasion of Iraq, will now have to remember the words of one of the American planners of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "You break it, you bought it."
An Altered International Stance
The US has reshaped Venezuela's destiny – whether for good or ill.
Trump entered office nearly a year ago promising to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is more than willing to use military force worldwide.
In the past week, he ordered air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites in Iran, alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
Unlike past actions, which have mostly involved rockets and warplanes that minimize the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the future of that nation – are markedly different.
His goal, he said during his press conference, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan could be difficult for some of Trump's backers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who broke with the president after accusing him of deserting his political base, was quick to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's perpetual use of force and support of foreign wars is understandable because we are forced to finance it," she stated. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another notable Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on arms and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to reclaim confiscated US oil and stop fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and legitimate".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his appearance, the president argued the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it guaranteed US regional security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American foreign policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Trump Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "protect trade, territory and resources that are fundamental to our security interests." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will raise broader questions in international relations, however, and affect American relations with the world's other significant global powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement expressing shock and denouncing what it said was a irresponsible assault on a independent country.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable condemnations of Russia following its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to mediate a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has frequently seemed to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, expressed worry about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My primary concern is now Russia will use this to excuse their illegal and brutal operations against Ukraine, or China to justify an attack of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic opponents were sharper.
"The United States should not be administering other countries for any purpose," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have understood by now not to get entangled in endless wars and overthrow attempts that carry catastrophic consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a criminal and a autocrat with a record of rights violations. But he condemned Trump's choice not to inform legislative leaders before initiating the attack.
"Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to follow the law and protect democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First demands."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he opted not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" details of the operation before the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That military operation was a success – with zero American casualties and limited harm to US equipment. Trump, with his characteristic bravado, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most astonishing, effective and impressive demonstrations of American military might and competency in American history."
Now he is gambling his legacy on that victory enduring, as the US says it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means is unclear. He and his team must rebuild a nation that has been in turmoil for decades while calming a hemisphere that is bound to be apprehensive of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
