In the wake of executing a evening of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the state-building business.
In a striking news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president declared that US military forces had successfully seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a team featuring Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the embattled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" entails is ambiguous, but the vow marks an sudden policy reversal for the president, laden with contradictions and daunting obstacles.
A president who ran on opposing "endless conflicts", who sharply criticised past US attempts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America first" international policy is now betting his administration on successfully reconstructing a South American nation whose economic system is in ruins and whose governmental stability has been undermined by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly upbeat.
He said his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He pledged to recruit American oil firms to repair Venezuela's deteriorating production infrastructure, supplying funds for the American reconstruction efforts and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out deploying 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 told reporters.
Trump, a sharp critic of the US invasion 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 shatter it, you are responsible for it."
A Changed Global Approach
The US has reshaped Venezuela's future – for better or worse.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has shown that he is quite prepared to use armed force around the globe.
In the past week, he authorized air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted nuclear facilities in Iran, suspected narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
In contrast to previous actions, which have largely involved rockets and aircraft that minimize the risk of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his pledges to the future of that nation – are strikingly different.
His aim, he said during his press conference, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Domestic and International Reaction
That play on Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - slogan may be tough for some of Trump's followers to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who broke with the president after accusing him of deserting his political base, was swift to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's never ending 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. How mistaken we were."
Another notable Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to retake seized US oil and halt fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "decisive and legitimate".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his appearance, the president argued the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" priorities because it ensured US hemispheric security and provided a steady source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American diplomatic policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Trump Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
The goal of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, land 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 broader concerns in global politics, however, and impact American relations with the world's other significant global powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement expressing shock and denouncing what it said was a reckless attack on a sovereign nation.
During the previous administration, the US offered similar 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 often seemed to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, voiced concern about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My main worry is now Russia will use this to excuse their illegal and brutal military actions against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"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 learned by now not to get entangled in perpetual conflicts and overthrow attempts that carry devastating results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a criminal and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he condemned Trump's choice not to inform congressional leaders prior to launching the attack.
"The President has the constitutional responsibility to follow 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 concerned they would "leak" details of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a success – with no American casualties and limited harm to US assets. Trump, with his characteristic confidence, portrayed the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "among the most astonishing, successful and powerful displays of American power and competency in American history."
Now he is gambling his presidency on that victory enduring, as the US claims it will assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unknown. He and his team must strengthen a nation that has been in chaos for years while stabilising a hemisphere that is sure to be apprehensive of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
