Following executing a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be entering the state-building business.
In a remarkable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president stated that US military forces had successfully captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a delegation including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the beleaguered nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and careful transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" entails is ambiguous, but the vow marks an dramatic shift in direction for the president, laden with contradictions and formidable challenges.
A president who campaigned against "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America First" international policy is now betting his presidency on successfully revitalizing a South American nation whose economy is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been eroded by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was persistently confident.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He pledged to enlist American oil firms to repair Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, supplying financing for the American reconstruction efforts and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out deploying American soldiers to Venezuela to further these efforts. "We're not afraid of 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 remember the words of one of the American architects 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 future – for better or worse.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago promising to be a diplomat, 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 struck nuclear facilities in Iran, alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
In contrast to past actions, which have largely involved rockets and warplanes that minimize the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his commitments to the fate of that nation – are strikingly distinct.
His objective, he said during his press conference, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That variation of Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra could be tough for some of Trump's supporters to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who split from the president after accusing him of abandoning his political base, was swift to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's perpetual use of force and backing for foreign wars is understandable because we are forced to pay for it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another prominent Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to retake seized US oil and stop fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "firm and legitimate".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it guaranteed US hemispheric security and provided a steady source of oil.
He revived the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th 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 preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged again."
The purpose of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "protect trade, land and assets that are fundamental to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's decision to capture Maduro will provoke larger concerns in international relations, however, and affect American ties with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry released a statement voicing shock and condemning what it said was a reckless assault on a sovereign nation.
During the previous administration, the US offered comparable condemnations of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker 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, voiced worry about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My primary worry is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and brutal military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"America should not be managing 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 results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a criminal and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he condemned Trump's decision not to inform congressional leaders prior to initiating the attack.
"The President has the legal duty to follow the law and uphold institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First demands."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he opted not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "leak" details of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That mission was a success – with zero American deaths and minimal harm to US equipment. Trump, with his typical bravado, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "among the most astonishing, effective and impressive demonstrations of American military might and proficiency in American history."
Now he is gambling his presidency on that victory continuing, as the US says it will take over administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that actually means is unclear. He and his administration must fortify a nation that has been in chaos for decades while stabilising a region that is bound to be cautious of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
