In the wake of launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the nation-building business.
In a striking media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president declared that US forces had successfully apprehended 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 assuming control of the beleaguered nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a secure, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "governing the state" entails is ambiguous, but the vow represents an abrupt policy reversal for the president, laden with contradictions and daunting obstacles.
A president who campaigned against "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US efforts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America first" international policy is now gambling his administration on successfully rebuilding a South American nation whose economy is in shambles and whose political stability has been undermined by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was persistently confident.
He said his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He vowed to enlist American oil firms to rebuild Venezuela's deteriorating industrial infrastructure, supplying financing for the American reconstruction efforts and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out sending American soldiers to Venezuela to further 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 heed the words of one of the American planners of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "You break it, you bought it."
A Changed Global Approach
The US has altered Venezuela's future – whether for good or ill.
Trump entered office nearly a year ago promising to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is ready to use military force worldwide.
In the past week, he ordered airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, militias in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike past operations, which have largely involved rockets and warplanes that reduce the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his commitments to the future of that nation – are markedly distinct.
His aim, he said during his press conference, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That play on Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - mantra might prove difficult for some of Trump's followers to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who split from the president after charging him of abandoning his core supporters, was quick to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's endless use of force and backing for foreign wars is understandable because we are forced to finance it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong."
Another notable Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to reclaim confiscated US oil and halt fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "firm and legitimate".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his appearance, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" priorities because it guaranteed US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will not be questioned again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, land and resources that are central to our security interests." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's decision to capture Maduro will raise larger concerns in international relations, however, and impact American ties with the world's other major global powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement expressing surprise and denouncing what it said was a reckless assault on a independent country.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable censures of Russia following its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to mediate 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 worry about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My main worry is now Russia will use this to justify 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 sharper.
"The United States should not be administering other countries for any purpose," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have learned by now not to get involved in endless wars and regime change missions that carry catastrophic consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he condemned Trump's choice not to inform congressional leaders before launching the attack.
"The President has the legal duty to follow the law and protect institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First requires."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he opted not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "disclose" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a triumph – with zero American deaths and limited damage to US assets. Trump, with his typical bravado, portrayed the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most astonishing, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competency in American history."
Now he is betting his presidency on that success continuing, as the US claims it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unclear. He and his administration must strengthen a nation that has been in turmoil for decades while stabilising a hemisphere that is sure to be cautious of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
