Following launching a evening of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be entering the state-building business.
In a notable media briefing 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, working 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, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" entails is unclear, but the commitment represents an sudden policy reversal for the president, rife with inconsistencies and formidable obstacles.
A president who campaigned against "endless conflicts", who sharply criticised past US attempts at regime change and who promised to implement an "America First" international policy is now betting his administration on effectively rebuilding a South American nation whose economy is in ruins and whose governmental stability has been eroded by decades of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly upbeat.
He stated his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He vowed to recruit American oil firms to repair Venezuela's deteriorating production infrastructure, providing capital for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He left open the possibility of deploying American soldiers to Venezuela to advance these efforts. "We do not fear 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 heed 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."
An Altered International Stance
The US has reshaped Venezuela's destiny – whether for good or ill.
Trump came to power 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 armed force worldwide.
In the past week, he authorized air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
In contrast to past actions, which have largely involved missiles and warplanes that reduce the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his commitments to the future of that nation – are strikingly different.
His aim, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Response at Home and Abroad
That twist on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan might prove tough for some of Trump's backers to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who split from the president after accusing him of abandoning his core supporters, was swift to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's perpetual military aggression and support of overseas conflicts is justified 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 notable Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on arms and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to reclaim confiscated US oil and halt fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "firm and warranted".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" priorities because it guaranteed US hemispheric security and provided a steady source of oil.
He revived the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American foreign policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Trump Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "protect trade, land and resources that are central to our national security." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will provoke larger questions in global politics, however, and affect American ties with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese government released a statement expressing shock and condemning what it said was a reckless attack on a independent country.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable condemnations 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 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 justify an attack of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic critics were sharper.
"The United States should not be running 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 endless wars and overthrow attempts that carry devastating consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a lawbreaker and a autocrat with a record of rights violations. But he censured Trump's choice not to consult with legislative 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 putting America First requires."
Trump, in his press conference, said that he chose not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "leak" details of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That mission was a success – with zero American casualties and limited harm to US assets. Trump, with his characteristic confidence, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most stunning, successful and powerful displays of American military might and proficiency in American 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 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 international strategy has planned for them.
