In the wake of launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be entering the state-building business.
In a notable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president declared that US forces had successfully seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then said that a group featuring Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the troubled 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 "running the country" entails is uncertain, but the vow represents an sudden change of course for the president, laden with contradictions and formidable obstacles.
A president who ran on opposing "forever wars", who vehemently denounced past US efforts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America First" international policy is now gambling his presidency 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 stated his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He pledged to recruit American oil firms to overhaul Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, supplying funds for the American reconstruction efforts and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He left open the possibility of sending American soldiers to Venezuela to further these efforts. "We do not fear boots on the ground…we had boots on the ground last night," he told reporters.
Trump, a vocal opponent of the US invasion of Iraq, will now have to heed the words of one of the American architects of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "You break it, you bought it."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has reshaped Venezuela's destiny – whether for good or ill.
Trump entered office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has shown that he is quite prepared to use armed force internationally.
In the past week, he authorized air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
Unlike past actions, which have mostly involved missiles and aircraft that reduce the risk of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are notably different.
His aim, he said during his briefing, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That variation of Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - slogan may be hard for some of Trump's supporters to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who split from the president after accusing him of deserting his core supporters, was swift to denounce 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 wrote. "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 drug trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to retake confiscated US oil and stop fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and justified".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his press conference, the president argued the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" priorities because it guaranteed US regional security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American diplomatic policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will not be challenged again."
The goal of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, territory and resources that are fundamental to our security interests." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will raise broader questions in international relations, however, and affect American ties with the world's other major global powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement expressing surprise and condemning what it said was a reckless attack on a independent country.
During the previous administration, the US offered comparable 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 appeared to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, expressed worry about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My primary concern is now Russia will use this to justify their unlawful and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents were sharper.
"America should not be managing other countries for any reason," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have learned by now not to get entangled in endless wars and regime change missions 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 decision not to inform congressional leaders prior to launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to abide by the law and uphold democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First demands."
Trump, in his remarks, explained that he opted not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "leak" details of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a triumph – with no American casualties and limited harm to US equipment. Trump, with his typical confidence, described the operation as a "daring raid" and "among the most stunning, successful and impressive displays of American military might and competency in American history."
Now he is betting his legacy on that success enduring, as the US says it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that truly entails remains unclear. He and his administration must fortify a nation that has been in turmoil for years while calming a region that is sure to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
