In the wake of launching a evening of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be entering the nation-building business.
In a remarkable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president announced that US forces had effectively apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then said that a group featuring Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be assuming control of the embattled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a secure, orderly and careful transition," he said.
What precisely "governing the state" involves is unclear, but the commitment marks an sudden policy reversal for the president, rife with inconsistencies and daunting challenges.
A leader who campaigned against "endless conflicts", who vehemently denounced past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now gambling his administration on successfully reconstructing a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose political stability has been eroded by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly confident.
He stated his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no different. He vowed to recruit American oil firms to repair Venezuela's deteriorating production infrastructure, supplying financing for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He left open the possibility of 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 sharp critic 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: "If you shatter it, you are responsible for it."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has redefined Venezuela's prospects – for better or worse.
Trump entered office nearly a year ago pledging to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has proven that he is ready to use armed force worldwide.
In the past week, he ordered air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted nuclear facilities in Iran, alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike previous actions, which have largely involved missiles and aircraft that minimize 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 press conference, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Response at Home and Abroad
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra could be tough for some of Trump's followers to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who broke with the president after accusing him of abandoning his core supporters, was swift to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's never ending use of force and support of foreign wars is understandable because we are forced to fund 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 legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to retake seized US oil and halt 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 "firm and warranted".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, the president argued the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it ensured US hemispheric security and provided a steady source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American foreign policy that declared the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged again."
The goal of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard trade, territory and resources that are core to our security interests." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will provoke broader questions in global politics, however, and affect American ties with the world's other major global powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement expressing surprise and condemning what it said was a irresponsible attack on a sovereign nation.
During the previous administration, the US offered similar condemnations of Russia after its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker a peace deal between those two nations – one that has often seemed to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, expressed worry about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My main concern is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and brutal military actions against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an attack of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were blunter.
"America should not be administering other countries for any purpose," said a senator who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have understood by now not to get entangled in endless wars and regime change missions that carry catastrophic results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a criminal and a dictator with a record of rights violations. But he censured Trump's decision not to consult with legislative leaders before initiating the attack.
"The President has the constitutional responsibility to follow the law and uphold democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting 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 deaths and limited harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical bravado, described the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most stunning, effective and impressive demonstrations of American power and proficiency in US history."
Now he is staking his presidency on that victory enduring, as the US says it will take over administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that truly entails remains unknown. He and his administration must rebuild a nation that has been in chaos for decades while stabilising a region that is sure to be apprehensive of what Trump's international strategy has in store for them.
