Following launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the state-building business.
In a striking news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief stated that US forces had successfully seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a group including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the beleaguered nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" actually means is ambiguous, but the commitment marks an abrupt change of course for the president, full of contradictions and daunting challenges.
A leader who campaigned against "forever wars", who vehemently denounced past US attempts at overthrowing governments and who promised to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now betting his presidency on successfully reconstructing a South American nation whose economy is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been eroded by years of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly upbeat.
He said his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no different. He vowed to enlist American energy companies to rebuild Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, supplying capital for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude deploying American soldiers to Venezuela to advance 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 consider the words of one of the American planners of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "If you shatter it, you are responsible for it."
A Changed Global Approach
The US has reshaped Venezuela's destiny – for better or worse.
Trump entered office nearly a year ago pledging to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has proven 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 drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike previous operations, which have largely involved missiles and aircraft that reduce the exposure of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are notably different.
His goal, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Domestic and International Reaction
That variation of Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra may be tough for some of Trump's backers to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who split from the president after charging him of abandoning his core supporters, was quick to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's never ending use of force and backing for foreign wars is justified because we are forced to pay for it," she stated. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another notable Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on arms and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to retake seized US oil and stop fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the military action against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and legitimate".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it guaranteed US hemispheric security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American diplomatic policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Trump Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will not be questioned again."
The purpose of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "protect trade, territory and resources that are core to our national security." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's decision to capture Maduro will provoke larger concerns in global politics, however, and affect American relations with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement expressing surprise and condemning what it said was a reckless attack on a sovereign nation.
During the previous 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 leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, expressed worry about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My primary concern is now Russia will use this to excuse their unlawful and brutal operations against Ukraine, or China to justify an attack of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were blunter.
"America should not be administering other countries for any reason," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have understood by now not to get involved in endless wars and overthrow attempts that carry catastrophic results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a autocrat with a record of rights violations. But he censured Trump's decision not to consult with legislative leaders prior to initiating the attack.
"The President has the constitutional responsibility to follow the law and protect democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First requires."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he chose not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "disclose" details of the operation prior to the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That mission was a success – with zero American deaths and minimal harm to US assets. Trump, with his characteristic confidence, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most astonishing, effective and impressive displays of American power and competency in American history."
Now he is betting his presidency on that success continuing, as the US claims it will assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means is unknown. He and his administration must rebuild a nation that has been in turmoil for years while stabilising a hemisphere that is bound to be wary of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
