In the wake of launching a evening of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be entering the state-building business.
In a remarkable news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president announced that US military forces had effectively seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then said that a group featuring 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, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "managing the nation" involves is ambiguous, but the commitment signifies an sudden change of course for the president, rife with contradictions and daunting obstacles.
A president who ran on opposing "forever wars", who vehemently denounced past US attempts at overthrowing governments and who promised to implement an "America First" international policy is now betting his administration on effectively revitalizing a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose political stability has been undermined by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly upbeat.
He stated his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He pledged to enlist American oil firms to repair Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, supplying capital for the American reconstruction efforts and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out deploying American soldiers to Venezuela to advance these efforts. "We're not afraid of 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 consider the words of one of the American planners of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "You break it, you bought it."
A Changed Global Approach
The US has altered Venezuela's prospects – whether for good or ill.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago pledging to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is more than willing to use armed force worldwide.
In the past week, he ordered air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck nuclear facilities in Iran, suspected drug-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 missiles 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 strikingly different.
His objective, he said during his press conference, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Domestic and International Reaction
That twist on Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - mantra may be difficult for some of Trump's followers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who broke with the president after charging him of abandoning his political base, was swift to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's perpetual use of force and backing for foreign wars is justified because we are compelled to pay for it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another notable Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to reclaim seized US oil and halt fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "firm and justified".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" priorities because it guaranteed US hemispheric security and provided a steady 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 renamed it the "Trump Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged again."
The goal of the new US security policy, he said, was to "protect trade, territory and assets that are fundamental to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will provoke larger concerns in global politics, however, and affect American relations with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement expressing surprise and denouncing what it said was a irresponsible assault on a independent country.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable condemnations of Russia following its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to mediate a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has frequently seemed to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, voiced worry about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My primary worry is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an attack of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents were more direct.
"The United States should not be managing 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 involved in endless wars and regime change missions that carry devastating consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a autocrat with a record of human rights abuses. But he condemned Trump's choice not to consult with legislative leaders prior to initiating the attack.
"Donald Trump has the legal duty to abide by the law and uphold democratic 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 "leak" details of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a triumph – with zero American deaths and limited harm to US assets. Trump, with his characteristic confidence, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most astonishing, successful and impressive displays of American power and proficiency in US history."
Now he is gambling his legacy on that success continuing, as the US says it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means is unclear. He and his administration must rebuild a nation that has been in turmoil for years while stabilising a region that is bound to be wary of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
