In the wake of launching a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the nation-building business.
In a remarkable news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief declared 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 comprising 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 run the country until such time as we can do a safe, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" entails is ambiguous, but the commitment marks an abrupt policy reversal for the president, rife with contradictions and formidable challenges.
A president who campaigned against "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US attempts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America first" foreign policy is now gambling his presidency on successfully revitalizing a South American nation whose economy is in ruins and whose governmental stability has been undermined by decades of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was persistently upbeat.
He said his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He promised to recruit American energy companies to rebuild Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, supplying financing for the American reconstruction efforts and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude sending American soldiers to Venezuela to advance 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 intervention of Iraq, will now have to consider the words of one of the American planners 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 more than willing to use armed force worldwide.
In the past week, he ordered air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
In contrast to past operations, which have mostly involved rockets and warplanes that reduce the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are strikingly different.
His goal, he said during his briefing, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Response at Home and Abroad
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan might prove hard for some of Trump's followers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump ally who split from the president after accusing him of deserting his core supporters, was quick to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's perpetual use of force and backing for overseas conflicts is justified because we are compelled to fund it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong."
Another prominent Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to reclaim confiscated US oil and halt fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "criminal regime" as "decisive and legitimate".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his appearance, the president argued the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" priorities 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 without influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will not be questioned again."
The goal of the new US security policy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, territory and resources that are fundamental to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's choice to apprehend Maduro will provoke larger concerns in global politics, however, and affect American ties with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese government released a statement expressing surprise and condemning what it said was a reckless attack on a sovereign nation.
During the previous administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia after its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to mediate a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has frequently appeared to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, expressed concern about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My primary worry is now Russia will use this to justify their unlawful and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an attack of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"The United States should not be running 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 perpetual conflicts and regime change missions that carry catastrophic consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's choice not to consult with congressional leaders prior to initiating the attack.
"Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to abide by the law and uphold institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First requires."
Trump, in his remarks, explained that he opted 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 mission was a success – with zero American casualties and limited damage to US equipment. Trump, with his typical bravado, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most astonishing, successful and powerful displays of American military might and proficiency in American history."
Now he is gambling his legacy on that victory enduring, as the US says it will take over administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unknown. He and his team must fortify a nation that has been in turmoil for decades while calming a hemisphere that is bound to be wary of what Trump's international strategy has in store for them.
