Following executing a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the state-building business.
In a remarkable press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president stated that US military forces had effectively apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then said that a group comprising Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the troubled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and careful transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" actually means is uncertain, but the vow represents an sudden change of course for the president, laden with contradictions and formidable challenges.
A leader who campaigned against "endless conflicts", who vehemently denounced past US attempts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now betting his presidency on effectively revitalizing a South American nation whose economic system is collapsed and whose governmental stability has been eroded by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly upbeat.
He stated his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He vowed to recruit American oil firms to overhaul Venezuela's crumbling industrial infrastructure, providing funds for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out deploying 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 told reporters.
Trump, a vocal opponent 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: "If you shatter it, you are responsible for it."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has altered Venezuela's future – 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 ready to use armed force internationally.
In the past week, he ordered airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites in Iran, alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
In contrast to past operations, which have largely involved rockets and aircraft that minimize the exposure of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his pledges to the future of that nation – are notably distinct.
His aim, he said during his press conference, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Domestic and International Reaction
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra may be tough for some of Trump's backers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who split from the president after charging him of abandoning his political base, was swift to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's perpetual use of force and backing for overseas conflicts is justified 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 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 supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "decisive and justified".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, the president argued the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it ensured US hemispheric security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American diplomatic policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged 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 labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will raise larger questions in global politics, however, and impact American relations with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement expressing surprise and denouncing what it said was a reckless assault on a sovereign nation.
During the previous administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to broker a peace deal between those two nations – one that has often appeared to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, expressed worry about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My main concern is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents were more direct.
"The United States should not be running other countries for any reason," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have understood by now not to get entangled in endless wars and regime change missions that carry devastating results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's decision not to inform legislative 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 putting America First requires."
Trump, in his remarks, explained that he opted not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "leak" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That mission was a triumph – with no 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 impressive demonstrations of American military might and competency in US history."
Now he is staking his legacy on that victory continuing, as the US says it will assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means is unclear. He and his team must rebuild a nation that has been in turmoil for years while stabilising a region that is bound to be wary of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
