In the wake of launching a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be entering the state-building business.
In a remarkable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief announced that US military forces had effectively captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then said that a delegation featuring Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be seizing the reins of the beleaguered nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a secure, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "governing the state" involves is ambiguous, but the commitment signifies an sudden shift in direction for the president, rife with contradictions and significant obstacles.
A president who campaigned against "endless conflicts", who vehemently denounced past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who promised to implement an "America First" international policy is now staking his presidency on effectively revitalizing a South American nation whose economic system is in ruins and whose governmental stability has been undermined by decades of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly optimistic.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He pledged to recruit American oil firms to repair Venezuela's deteriorating industrial 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 invasion of Iraq, will now have to remember 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 Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has altered Venezuela's destiny – for better or worse.
Trump entered office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is more than willing to use military force worldwide.
In the past week, he ordered airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
In contrast to past actions, which have largely involved rockets and warplanes that minimize the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are markedly different.
His goal, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Domestic and International Reaction
That variation of Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan may be tough for some of Trump's followers to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who split from the president after charging him of abandoning his political base, was swift to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's never ending use of force and backing for overseas conflicts is understandable because we are compelled to finance it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another prominent Trump detractor, 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 stop fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and justified".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
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 nineteenth-century American diplomatic policy that declared the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged again."
The goal of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "protect trade, land and resources that are central to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's choice to apprehend Maduro will provoke broader questions in international relations, however, and impact American relations with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese government released a statement voicing shock and denouncing what it said was a reckless assault on a independent country.
During the previous administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to broker a peace deal between those two nations – one that has frequently appeared 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 primary concern is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and brutal operations against Ukraine, or China to justify an attack of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"America should not be administering other countries for any reason," said a senator who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have understood by now not to get involved in perpetual conflicts and regime change missions that carry catastrophic consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a criminal and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he condemned Trump's choice not to consult with congressional leaders before launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the legal duty to follow the law and uphold institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First requires."
Trump, in his press conference, said that he opted not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "disclose" details of the operation before the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That military operation was a success – with no American casualties and minimal damage to US equipment. Trump, with his typical confidence, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most stunning, successful and impressive displays of American military might and proficiency in American history."
Now he is gambling his presidency on that success enduring, as the US says it will assume responsibility for 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 region that is bound to be wary of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
