Following launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the state-building business.
In a remarkable press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief declared that US forces had successfully apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a team including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the embattled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" involves is ambiguous, but the vow marks an abrupt change of course for the president, full of inconsistencies and significant obstacles.
A leader who ran on opposing "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America first" international policy is now gambling his administration on effectively revitalizing a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been undermined by years of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was persistently confident.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no different. He vowed to enlist American oil firms to repair Venezuela's deteriorating industrial infrastructure, providing financing for the American reconstruction efforts and aiding 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 intervention of Iraq, will now have to consider the words of one of the American architects of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "You break it, you bought it."
An Altered International Stance
The US has redefined Venezuela's prospects – whether for good or ill.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has shown that he is quite prepared to use armed force worldwide.
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 jihadist fighters in Iraq.
In contrast to previous actions, which have mostly involved missiles and aircraft that reduce the exposure of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his commitments to the future of that nation – are strikingly different.
His goal, he said during his briefing, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Domestic and International Reaction
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra could be tough for some of Trump's supporters to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who broke with the president after charging him of deserting his core supporters, was swift to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's endless military aggression and backing for foreign wars is justified because we are forced to fund it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another prominent Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to reclaim confiscated US oil and halt fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the armed intervention against a "criminal regime" as "decisive and legitimate".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his press conference, the president argued the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it guaranteed US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American diplomatic policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Trump Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will not be questioned again."
The goal of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard trade, territory and assets that are core to our national security." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's decision to capture Maduro will provoke broader questions in international relations, however, and impact American relations with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese government released a statement expressing surprise and denouncing what it said was a reckless assault on a sovereign nation.
During the previous administration, the US offered similar condemnations of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker a peace deal between those two nations – one that has frequently seemed to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, expressed concern about the message Trump's actions might send.
"My main concern is now Russia will use this to excuse their unlawful and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic critics were blunter.
"America should not be running other countries for any purpose," said a senator who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have learned 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 autocrat with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's choice not to inform legislative leaders prior to launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the legal duty to abide by the law and protect institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First requires."
Trump, in his press conference, said that he chose not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That military operation was a triumph – with zero American casualties and limited damage to US equipment. Trump, with his characteristic bravado, described the operation as a "daring raid" and "among the most stunning, effective and impressive displays of American power and proficiency in American history."
Now he is staking his legacy on that victory continuing, as the US says it will assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means is unclear. He and his administration must rebuild a nation that has been in chaos for decades while stabilising a hemisphere that is bound to be cautious of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
