In the wake of launching a evening of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the nation-building business.
In a remarkable news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president declared that US forces had effectively seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a team comprising 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 run the country until such time as we can do a secure, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "governing the state" involves is ambiguous, but the pledge marks an sudden policy reversal for the president, laden with contradictions and daunting obstacles.
A president who ran on opposing "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US attempts at regime change and who promised to implement an "America first" foreign policy is now gambling his administration on successfully rebuilding a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been eroded by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly confident.
He said his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this will be no different. He promised to recruit American energy companies to overhaul Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, providing funds for the American reconstruction efforts and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He left open the possibility of sending American soldiers to Venezuela to progress 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 intervention of Iraq, will now have to remember 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 Changed Global Approach
The US has altered Venezuela's prospects – whether for good or ill.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has proven that he is quite prepared to use military force internationally.
In the past week, he ordered airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike past actions, which have largely involved missiles and warplanes that minimize the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his commitments to the fate of that nation – are strikingly different.
His goal, he said during his briefing, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Response at Home and Abroad
That variation of Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan might prove hard for some of Trump's followers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who split from the president after charging him of abandoning his core supporters, was quick to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's perpetual use of force and backing for foreign wars is understandable because we are forced to finance it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another notable Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to retake confiscated US oil and stop fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "decisive and legitimate".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his appearance, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" priorities because it ensured US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American diplomatic policy that declared the Western Hemisphere should be free from 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 purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "protect commerce, territory and assets that are central to our security interests." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's decision to capture Maduro will provoke larger concerns in international relations, however, and impact American relations with the world's other major global 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 similar censures of Russia after 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 more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, expressed concern about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My primary concern is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an attack of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"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 understood by now not to get involved in endless wars and overthrow attempts that carry catastrophic results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a criminal and a dictator with a record of rights violations. But he condemned 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 demands."
Trump, in his press conference, said 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 mission was a success – with zero American casualties and limited harm to US equipment. Trump, with his typical confidence, described the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most astonishing, effective and impressive displays of American power and competency in US history."
Now he is staking his legacy on that success enduring, as the US says it will take over administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unclear. He and his administration must strengthen a nation that has been in turmoil for decades while stabilising a region that is sure to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
