Following launching a evening of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the nation-building business.
In a remarkable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president announced that US military forces had effectively captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then said that a delegation including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be seizing the reins of the embattled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a secure, orderly and careful transition," he said.
What precisely "governing the state" involves is unclear, but the commitment marks an abrupt change of course for the president, rife with inconsistencies and daunting challenges.
A leader who campaigned against "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US attempts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America first" international policy is now gambling his presidency on successfully revitalizing a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been eroded by years of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was persistently upbeat.
He said his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no different. He promised to recruit American energy companies to repair Venezuela's crumbling industrial infrastructure, supplying financing for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out deploying 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 informed reporters.
Trump, a sharp critic 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: "You break it, you bought it."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has altered Venezuela's future – for better or worse.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago promising to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has shown that he is quite prepared to use military force internationally.
In the past week, he ordered airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites in Iran, suspected narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
In contrast to previous operations, which have largely involved rockets and warplanes that minimize the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are notably different.
His objective, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Domestic and International Reaction
That variation of Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - slogan could be tough for some of Trump's backers to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump ally who broke with the president after charging him of deserting his political base, was quick to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's endless use of force and backing for foreign wars is understandable because we are compelled to pay for 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 seized US oil and halt fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers rallied behind 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 ensured US regional security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American foreign policy that asserted 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 supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged again."
The goal of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "protect commerce, land and resources that are core to our security interests." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's choice 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 issued a statement expressing surprise and denouncing what it said was a reckless assault on a sovereign nation.
During the Biden administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia after its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to mediate a peace deal between those two nations – one that has often 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 excuse their unlawful and brutal military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an attack of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic opponents were more direct.
"The United States should not be managing 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 entangled in perpetual conflicts and overthrow attempts that carry devastating results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he condemned Trump's choice not to consult with congressional leaders before initiating the attack.
"Donald Trump has the legal duty to follow the law and uphold democratic 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 "disclose" details of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a triumph – with zero American deaths and minimal harm to US equipment. Trump, with his typical bravado, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "among the most astonishing, successful and impressive displays of American military might and proficiency in American history."
Now he is staking his legacy on that victory enduring, as the US claims it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means is unknown. He and his administration must fortify a nation that has been in chaos for years while stabilising a region that is bound to be cautious of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
