In the wake of launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the state-building business.
In a striking press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president announced that US military forces had successfully 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 seizing the reins 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 "managing the nation" entails is ambiguous, but the commitment marks an sudden shift in direction for the president, laden with inconsistencies and formidable obstacles.
A president who ran on opposing "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US attempts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now betting his administration on successfully revitalizing a South American nation whose economic system is collapsed and whose political stability has been undermined by decades of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly confident.
He stated his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no different. He vowed to enlist American oil firms to repair Venezuela's deteriorating industrial infrastructure, supplying financing for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out 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 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."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has altered Venezuela's destiny – 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 around the globe.
In the past week, he ordered airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites in Iran, suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
In contrast to past actions, which have largely involved missiles and aircraft that reduce the exposure of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his commitments to the future of that nation – are markedly distinct.
His aim, he said during his press conference, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Domestic and International Reaction
That variation of Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan may be hard for some of Trump's supporters to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who broke with the president after charging him of deserting his core supporters, was swift to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's endless use of force and backing for overseas conflicts is understandable because we are forced to finance 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 legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to retake seized US oil and stop fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "decisive and justified".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his appearance, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" priorities because it guaranteed US hemispheric security and provided a steady source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American diplomatic policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Trump Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will not be questioned again."
The purpose of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard trade, land and assets that are core to our security interests." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's choice to apprehend Maduro will raise broader questions in global politics, however, and affect American relations with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement voicing surprise and denouncing what it said was a irresponsible attack on a independent country.
During the Biden administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to broker a peace deal between those two nations – one that has often appeared to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, voiced concern about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My main worry is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and brutal military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were blunter.
"America should not be administering 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 overthrow attempts 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 condemned Trump's decision not to consult with congressional leaders before launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to follow the law and uphold institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First requires."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he opted not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "disclose" details of the operation prior to the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That military operation was a success – with zero American deaths and minimal harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical bravado, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "among the most astonishing, successful and powerful demonstrations of American power and competency in American history."
Now he is staking his legacy on that success enduring, as the US says it will assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unknown. He and his team must rebuild a nation that has been in chaos for decades while stabilising a region that is sure to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
