In the wake of executing a evening of shock and awe 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 commander-in-chief announced that US military forces had successfully captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then said that a group including 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 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 ambiguous, but the vow marks an sudden policy reversal for the president, rife with contradictions and daunting obstacles.
A president who ran on opposing "endless conflicts", who vehemently denounced past US efforts at regime change and who promised to implement an "America First" international policy is now staking his administration on effectively reconstructing a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been undermined by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was persistently confident.
He stated his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no different. He pledged to recruit American energy companies to overhaul Venezuela's deteriorating industrial infrastructure, providing 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're not afraid of 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 heed the words of one of the American architects of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "If you break it, you own it."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has redefined Venezuela's prospects – whether for good or ill.
Trump entered office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is quite prepared to use armed force internationally.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes 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 Islamic militants in Iraq.
Unlike past operations, which have largely involved rockets and warplanes that reduce the risk of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are markedly distinct.
His goal, he said during his press conference, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That variation of Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra could be hard for some of Trump's followers to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who broke with the president after accusing him of deserting his political base, was quick to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's never ending use of force and support of overseas conflicts 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 notable Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the official rationale 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.
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 warranted".
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 revived the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will not be questioned again."
The goal of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, territory and resources that are core to our security interests." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will provoke broader questions in global politics, however, and affect American ties with the world's other major global powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry released a statement expressing shock and denouncing what it said was a irresponsible assault on a independent country.
During the previous administration, the US offered comparable censures of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to broker a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has often appeared to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, voiced worry about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My primary concern is now Russia will use this to excuse their unlawful and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents were more direct.
"The United States should not be administering 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 catastrophic consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a criminal and a dictator with a record of rights violations. But he censured Trump's decision not to inform congressional leaders before initiating the attack.
"The President has the legal duty to follow the law and uphold democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First requires."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he opted not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "disclose" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a triumph – with zero American deaths and limited damage to US equipment. Trump, with his typical confidence, described the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most stunning, successful and powerful displays of American power and proficiency in US history."
Now he is betting his presidency on that success enduring, as the US says it will take over administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that truly entails is unclear. He and his team must strengthen a nation that has been in chaos for years while calming a region that is sure to be cautious of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
