Following launching a evening of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be entering the state-building business.
In a notable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief announced that US military forces had successfully captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid 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 seizing the reins of the troubled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a secure, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" involves is ambiguous, but the pledge signifies an sudden policy reversal for the president, full of inconsistencies and formidable challenges.
A leader who campaigned against "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America first" foreign policy is now gambling his administration on effectively reconstructing a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been eroded by decades of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly optimistic.
He stated his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no different. He promised to recruit American energy companies to rebuild Venezuela's crumbling industrial infrastructure, providing financing for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out 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 told reporters.
Trump, a sharp critic 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 took office nearly a year ago pledging to be a peacemaker, 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 airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck nuclear facilities in Iran, suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, militias in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
In contrast to previous actions, which have mostly involved missiles and warplanes that minimize the exposure of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are strikingly 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 "MAGA" – or Maga - slogan may be hard for some of Trump's followers to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump ally who broke with the president after accusing him of deserting his core supporters, was swift to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's perpetual military aggression and backing for foreign wars is justified because we are compelled to pay for it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another notable Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to retake confiscated US oil and halt fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the military action against a "illegitimate government" as "firm and justified".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" agenda because it ensured US hemispheric security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He revived the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that declared the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Trump Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will not be challenged again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "safeguard trade, land and resources that are core to our national security." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's decision to capture Maduro will provoke larger questions in international relations, however, and impact American ties with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese government released a statement voicing surprise and condemning what it said was a irresponsible attack on a sovereign nation.
During the previous administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia following its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has frequently appeared to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, expressed concern about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My primary worry is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an attack of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were blunter.
"America should not be running other countries for any reason," said a senator who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have understood by now not to get involved in perpetual conflicts and regime change missions that carry devastating consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a criminal and a autocrat with a record of rights violations. But he censured Trump's decision not to consult with legislative leaders before initiating the attack.
"Donald Trump has the legal duty 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 opted not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "disclose" particulars of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a triumph – with no American deaths and minimal damage to US assets. Trump, with his characteristic bravado, portrayed the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competency in American history."
Now he is gambling his presidency on that success enduring, as the US claims it will take over administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unclear. He and his team must rebuild a nation that has been in chaos for years while stabilising a region that is bound to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
