Following executing a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the state-building business.
In a notable news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president stated that US forces had effectively seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then said that a group comprising Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be seizing the reins of the beleaguered nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a secure, orderly and careful transition," he said.
What exactly "governing the state" entails is ambiguous, but the vow marks an dramatic change of course for the president, full of inconsistencies and daunting obstacles.
A leader who ran on opposing "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US efforts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now betting his presidency on effectively reconstructing a South American nation whose economy is in ruins and whose governmental stability has been eroded by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was persistently upbeat.
He said his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He vowed to recruit American energy companies to rebuild Venezuela's deteriorating production infrastructure, providing capital 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 told reporters.
Trump, a vocal opponent of the US invasion of Iraq, will now have to heed the words of one of the American planners of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "If you break it, you own it."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has reshaped Venezuela's destiny – whether for good or ill.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has proven that he is more than willing to use military force around the globe.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck nuclear facilities in Iran, alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, militias in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
In contrast to previous actions, which have largely involved rockets and aircraft that reduce the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his commitments to the fate of that nation – are notably different.
His aim, he said during his briefing, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Domestic and International Reaction
That variation of Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra could be hard for some of Trump's supporters to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who broke with the president after accusing 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 military aggression and support of foreign wars is understandable because we are forced to fund it," she stated. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong."
Another prominent Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to retake confiscated US oil and stop fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "criminal regime" as "firm and legitimate".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his appearance, the president said the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" priorities because it guaranteed US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American diplomatic 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 supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged again."
The goal of the new US security policy, he said, was to "safeguard trade, territory and assets that are central to our security interests." 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 ties with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement expressing surprise and denouncing what it said was a irresponsible assault on a sovereign nation.
During the previous administration, the US offered comparable condemnations of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker a peace deal 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 worry is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"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 endless wars and regime change missions that carry devastating 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 decision not to inform legislative leaders prior to launching the attack.
"The President has the legal duty to abide by the law and uphold institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First requires."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he chose not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "disclose" details of the operation prior to the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That mission was a success – with no American casualties and minimal damage to US assets. Trump, with his typical confidence, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "among the most stunning, successful and powerful displays of American power and competency in US history."
Now he is staking his legacy on that success enduring, as the US claims it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means is unknown. He and his team must fortify a nation that has been in chaos for years while stabilising a hemisphere that is bound to be cautious of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
