Following launching a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the state-building business.
In a striking press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief announced that US military forces had effectively seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a team including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be assuming control of the embattled nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a secure, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" involves is ambiguous, but the commitment marks an sudden policy reversal for the president, rife with inconsistencies and significant obstacles.
A leader who ran on opposing "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now staking his administration on successfully reconstructing a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been undermined by decades of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was persistently upbeat.
He said his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He promised to recruit American energy companies to repair Venezuela's deteriorating production infrastructure, supplying capital for the American reconstruction efforts and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out sending American soldiers to Venezuela to progress 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 intervention of Iraq, will now have to consider the words of one of the American architects of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "You break it, you bought it."
A Changed Global Approach
The US has redefined Venezuela's prospects – whether for good or ill.
Trump entered office nearly a year ago pledging to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is ready to use armed force internationally.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites in Iran, alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
Unlike past actions, which have mostly involved missiles and warplanes that reduce the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are markedly different.
His aim, he said during his press conference, is to "make Venezuela great again."
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 supporters to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who broke with the president after accusing him of deserting his core supporters, was swift to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's perpetual use of force and support of foreign wars is justified because we are compelled to finance it," she stated. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong."
Another prominent Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to retake confiscated US oil and halt fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and warranted".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his appearance, the president said the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" priorities because it ensured US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that declared 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 purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "safeguard trade, territory and assets that are fundamental to our security interests." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's decision to apprehend Maduro will raise larger questions in global politics, however, and affect American relations with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese government 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 incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has frequently appeared to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist 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 more direct.
"America should not be running other countries for any reason," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have understood by now not to get entangled in perpetual conflicts and regime change missions that carry devastating consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's choice not to inform congressional leaders prior to launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to abide by the law and uphold institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First demands."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he chose not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "disclose" 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 bravado, portrayed the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most stunning, successful and impressive displays of American power and competency in US history."
Now he is gambling his presidency on that success continuing, as the US says it will assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unclear. He and his administration must fortify a nation that has been in chaos for years while stabilising a hemisphere that is bound to be wary of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
