Following executing a evening of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the state-building business.
In a notable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president announced that US forces had effectively apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then indicated that a team featuring 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 manage the country until such time as we can do a safe, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" entails is uncertain, but the commitment represents an dramatic change of course for the president, rife with contradictions and formidable obstacles.
A leader who ran on opposing "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US attempts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America first" foreign policy is now staking his administration on successfully revitalizing a South American nation whose economy is collapsed and whose governmental stability has been eroded by years of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly upbeat.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He pledged to recruit American energy companies to rebuild Venezuela's deteriorating production infrastructure, providing financing for the American reconstruction efforts and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out sending American soldiers to Venezuela to progress these efforts. "We're not afraid of 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 remember the words of one of the American architects of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "If you break it, you own it."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has altered Venezuela's destiny – for better or worse.
Trump entered office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has proven that he is quite prepared to use armed force internationally.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck 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 past operations, which have mostly involved missiles and aircraft that minimize the risk of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his commitments to the fate of that nation – are strikingly different.
His aim, he said during his briefing, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Domestic and International Reaction
That twist on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra might prove difficult for some of Trump's backers to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who split from the president after accusing him of abandoning his political base, was quick to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's endless use of force and support of overseas conflicts is understandable because we are forced to pay for it," she stated. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong."
Another notable Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to retake confiscated US oil and halt fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the armed intervention against a "criminal regime" as "decisive and warranted".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his appearance, the president said the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" agenda because it ensured US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Donroe 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 commerce, land and assets that are core to our national security." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will provoke larger concerns in international relations, however, and affect American relations with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement expressing surprise and denouncing what it said was a reckless assault on a independent country.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable condemnations of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to broker a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has often seemed to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, voiced concern about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My primary worry is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were sharper.
"The United States should not be administering 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 perpetual conflicts and overthrow attempts that carry devastating consequences 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 choice not to consult with congressional leaders prior to launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to follow the law and protect institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First demands."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he chose not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "leak" particulars of the operation before the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That military operation was a success – with zero American deaths and minimal damage to US assets. Trump, with his typical bravado, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "among the most stunning, successful and impressive displays of American military might and competency in US history."
Now he is betting his presidency on that victory continuing, as the US claims 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 turmoil for years while stabilising a region that is bound to be wary of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
