In the wake of launching a evening of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the nation-building business.
In a striking 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 including 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 run the country until such time as we can do a secure, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "governing the state" actually means is ambiguous, but the pledge represents an abrupt shift in direction for the president, rife with inconsistencies and significant obstacles.
A leader who campaigned against "endless conflicts", 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 economy is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been undermined by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly confident.
He said his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He promised to enlist American energy companies to repair Venezuela's deteriorating industrial infrastructure, supplying funds for the American reconstruction efforts and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out 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 informed reporters.
Trump, a vocal opponent of the US invasion of Iraq, will now have to remember 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."
An Altered International Stance
The US has redefined Venezuela's future – whether for good or ill.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is quite prepared to use military force internationally.
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, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
In contrast to previous operations, which have mostly involved rockets and aircraft that reduce the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his commitments to the future of that nation – are strikingly distinct.
His aim, he said during his press conference, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Domestic and International Reaction
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan might prove difficult for some of Trump's backers to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who broke with the president after accusing him of abandoning his core supporters, was swift to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's never ending use of force and backing for foreign wars is understandable because we are forced to fund 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, compared the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on arms and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to retake confiscated US oil and halt fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and legitimate".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his appearance, the president argued the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" agenda because it guaranteed US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He revived the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that declared the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Trump 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 commerce, land and assets that are core to our national security." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's decision to capture Maduro will raise larger concerns in international relations, however, and impact American ties with the world's other major global powers.
The Chinese government released a statement expressing surprise and denouncing what it said was a irresponsible assault on a independent country.
During the Biden 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 leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, voiced concern about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My main concern is now Russia will use this to excuse their unlawful and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an attack of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"The United States should not be running other countries for any reason," said a senator who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have learned by now not to get entangled in endless wars and regime change missions that carry catastrophic results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a lawbreaker and a autocrat with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's decision not to inform legislative leaders prior to launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the legal duty to abide by the law and uphold institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First demands."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he opted not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a triumph – with zero American deaths and limited harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical confidence, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most astonishing, successful and impressive displays of American military might and proficiency in American history."
Now he is staking his legacy on that success enduring, as the US claims it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unclear. He and his administration must rebuild a nation that has been in chaos for years while calming a hemisphere that is sure to be cautious of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
