Following launching a evening of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the state-building business.
In a remarkable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president declared that US forces had effectively captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then said that a delegation comprising Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be assuming control of the embattled nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a secure, proper and careful transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" entails is unclear, but the vow signifies an dramatic change of course for the president, rife with inconsistencies and significant challenges.
A president who campaigned against "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who promised to implement an "America first" international policy is now gambling his administration on effectively rebuilding a South American nation whose economic system is collapsed and whose governmental stability has been undermined by years of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was persistently upbeat.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He promised to enlist American energy companies to overhaul Venezuela's crumbling industrial infrastructure, providing capital for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude sending American soldiers to Venezuela to further 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 intervention of Iraq, will now have to remember the words of one of the American architects of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "You break it, you bought it."
A Changed Global Approach
The US has redefined Venezuela's destiny – for better or worse.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has shown that he is more than willing to use armed force worldwide.
In the past week, he authorized air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted nuclear facilities in Iran, suspected narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike past operations, which have largely involved rockets and warplanes that minimize the exposure of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his commitments to the future of that nation – are notably different.
His objective, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That twist on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra might prove tough for some of Trump's supporters to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who split from the president after accusing him of abandoning his core supporters, was quick to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's perpetual military aggression and backing for overseas conflicts is justified because we are compelled to fund it," she stated. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another prominent 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 reclaim confiscated US oil and halt fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing 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" priorities because it ensured US hemispheric security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He dusted off 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 "Donroe Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "safeguard trade, land and assets that are central to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's choice to apprehend Maduro will provoke larger concerns in global politics, however, and affect American relations with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement expressing shock and denouncing what it said was a reckless attack on a independent country.
During the previous administration, the US offered comparable censures of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has often seemed to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, voiced concern about the message Trump's actions might send.
"My primary concern is now Russia will use this to excuse their illegal and brutal operations against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an attack of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic opponents were sharper.
"The United States should not be running other countries for any purpose," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have understood by now not to get entangled in perpetual conflicts and regime change missions that carry catastrophic results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a autocrat with a record of rights violations. But he censured Trump's decision not to inform congressional leaders before launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to follow the law and protect democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First requires."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he chose not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" details of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a success – with no American deaths and limited harm to US assets. Trump, with his characteristic bravado, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most stunning, successful and powerful demonstrations 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 assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means is unclear. He and his administration must strengthen a nation that has been in turmoil for years while stabilising a hemisphere that is bound to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
