Following executing a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the nation-building business.
In a striking news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president stated that US military forces had effectively apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a group including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be seizing the reins of the troubled nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a secure, orderly and careful transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" entails is ambiguous, but the vow marks an dramatic policy reversal for the president, laden with contradictions and formidable obstacles.
A president who campaigned against "endless conflicts", who vehemently denounced past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America first" international policy is now gambling his administration on successfully reconstructing a South American nation whose economy is collapsed and whose governmental stability has been undermined by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was persistently upbeat.
He stated his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He vowed to enlist American oil firms to repair Venezuela's crumbling industrial infrastructure, providing financing for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude sending 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 informed reporters.
Trump, a sharp critic of the US intervention of Iraq, will now have to consider 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."
An Altered International Stance
The US has altered Venezuela's destiny – for better or worse.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has shown that he is more than willing to use military force internationally.
In the past week, he ordered air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites in Iran, alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike previous operations, which have largely involved rockets and warplanes that minimize the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are strikingly different.
His aim, he said during his briefing, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That variation of Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan could be difficult for some of Trump's supporters to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who broke with the president after accusing him of deserting his political base, was swift to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's perpetual military aggression 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 notable Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on arms and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to retake confiscated US oil and stop fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and legitimate".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" agenda because it ensured US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American diplomatic policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will not be challenged 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 decision to capture Maduro will raise broader questions in global politics, however, and affect American ties with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry released a statement expressing shock and denouncing what it said was a irresponsible attack on a sovereign nation.
During the Biden administration, the US offered similar condemnations 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, expressed worry about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My primary worry is now Russia will use this to excuse their unlawful and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic opponents were more direct.
"The United States 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 results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of rights violations. But he censured Trump's choice not to inform congressional leaders before initiating the attack.
"The President has the legal duty to abide by the law and protect institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First demands."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he chose not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a success – with no American casualties and minimal harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical confidence, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most stunning, successful and powerful demonstrations of American power and competency in American history."
Now he is gambling his legacy on that success enduring, as the US claims it will take over administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that truly entails is unknown. He and his team must fortify a nation that has been in turmoil for years while stabilising a hemisphere that is sure to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
