Following launching a evening of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the nation-building business.
In a notable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president announced that US military forces had effectively captured 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 embattled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a secure, proper and careful transition," he said.
What precisely "managing the nation" entails is unclear, but the pledge signifies an sudden change of course for the president, rife with inconsistencies and significant obstacles.
A president who ran on opposing "forever wars", who vehemently denounced past US attempts at regime change and who promised to implement an "America First" international policy is now staking his administration on successfully reconstructing a South American nation whose economic system is collapsed and whose political stability has been eroded by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly confident.
He claimed his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He vowed to enlist American energy companies to overhaul Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, supplying financing for the American reconstruction efforts and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude 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 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."
A Changed Global Approach
The US has altered Venezuela's destiny – for better or worse.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has demonstrated 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 nuclear facilities in Iran, alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
Unlike previous operations, which have mostly involved rockets and warplanes that reduce the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the future of that nation – are strikingly different.
His goal, he said during his press conference, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra may be tough for some of Trump's supporters to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who split from the president after charging him of abandoning his core supporters, was swift to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's endless use of force and support of foreign wars is understandable because we are forced to pay for 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, compared the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on arms and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to retake seized US oil and halt fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "firm and warranted".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his press conference, the president argued the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" agenda because it guaranteed US hemispheric security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American foreign policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Trump Doctrine."
The action 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 "protect commerce, land and resources that are core to our security interests." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's choice to apprehend Maduro will raise broader questions in international relations, however, and affect American relations with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese government released a statement expressing surprise and condemning what it said was a irresponsible attack on a sovereign nation.
During the previous administration, the US offered comparable censures of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to mediate a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has frequently appeared to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, voiced concern about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My primary worry is now Russia will use this to excuse their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an invasion of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"America should not be running other countries for any purpose," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have learned by now not to get entangled in perpetual conflicts and regime change missions that carry catastrophic consequences 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 consult with legislative leaders before launching the attack.
"The President has the legal duty to abide by the law and protect democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First demands."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he chose not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "disclose" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That mission was a triumph – with zero American deaths and limited harm to US equipment. Trump, with his typical bravado, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "among the most astonishing, effective and powerful demonstrations of American military might and competency in American 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 team must fortify a nation that has been in chaos for years while calming a hemisphere that is bound to be cautious of what Trump's international strategy has in store for them.
