Following launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the state-building business.
In a notable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president declared that US forces had effectively captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then said that a delegation comprising Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be seizing the reins of the troubled nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a safe, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" entails is ambiguous, but the commitment signifies an abrupt shift in direction for the president, laden with inconsistencies and significant challenges.
A leader who ran on opposing "endless conflicts", who vehemently denounced past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now betting his administration on successfully rebuilding a South American nation whose economy is in shambles and whose political stability has been eroded by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly upbeat.
He said his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He pledged to enlist American oil firms to overhaul Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, providing capital for the American reconstruction efforts and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude 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 informed reporters.
Trump, a vocal opponent of the US intervention of Iraq, will now have to heed the words of one of the American architects of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "You break it, you bought it."
An Altered International Stance
The US has altered Venezuela's destiny – for better or worse.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has proven that he is ready to use armed force worldwide.
In the past week, he authorized air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites in Iran, suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike previous operations, which have mostly involved missiles and warplanes that reduce the exposure of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the future of that nation – are notably distinct.
His aim, he said during his press conference, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Domestic and International Reaction
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan might prove hard for some of Trump's backers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who broke with the president after charging him of abandoning his political base, was quick to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's perpetual military aggression and backing for 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 notable Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to reclaim confiscated US oil and stop fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "decisive and warranted".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, the president argued the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it guaranteed US regional security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American foreign policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Trump Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will not be questioned again."
The goal of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "protect trade, land and assets that are core to our security interests." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's decision to capture Maduro will provoke broader questions in international relations, however, and impact American relations with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement expressing shock and condemning what it said was a reckless attack on a sovereign nation.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable condemnations of Russia following its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker a peace deal between those two nations – one that has often 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 main worry is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and brutal operations against Ukraine, or China to justify 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 reason," 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 catastrophic consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a criminal and a autocrat with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's decision not to inform congressional leaders prior to launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to abide by the law and uphold democratic 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 prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That mission was a triumph – with no American deaths and limited harm to US equipment. Trump, with his typical confidence, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "among the most astonishing, effective and impressive demonstrations of American military might and competency in US history."
Now he is betting his legacy on that victory enduring, as the US claims it will assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that truly entails remains unknown. He and his administration must fortify a nation that has been in turmoil for decades while stabilising a region that is bound to be cautious of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
