Following launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be entering the state-building business.
In a striking media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president stated that US forces had effectively apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then indicated that a delegation including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be assuming control of the troubled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a secure, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" involves is ambiguous, but the pledge marks an sudden change of course for the president, rife with inconsistencies and formidable challenges.
A president who ran on opposing "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US efforts at regime change and who promised to implement an "America First" international policy is now betting his presidency on effectively revitalizing a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose political stability has been eroded by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was persistently upbeat.
He stated his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He pledged to recruit American oil firms to overhaul Venezuela's crumbling industrial infrastructure, providing capital for the American reconstruction efforts and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He left open the possibility of sending American soldiers to Venezuela to advance these efforts. "We're not afraid of boots on the ground…we had boots on the ground last night," he informed 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: "If you break it, you own it."
A Changed Global Approach
The US has reshaped Venezuela's future – whether for good or ill.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has shown that he is more than willing to use military 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 actions, which have mostly involved missiles and warplanes that reduce the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his commitments to the fate of that nation – are notably different.
His goal, he said during his briefing, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That variation of Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - slogan might prove tough for some of Trump's backers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump ally who broke with the president after charging him of abandoning his core supporters, was quick to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's endless military aggression and support of foreign wars is understandable because we are forced to fund it," she wrote. "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 weapons and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to reclaim seized US oil and stop fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and warranted".
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 reliable source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that declared 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 not be questioned again."
The purpose of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "protect trade, land and assets that are core to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will provoke broader questions in international relations, however, and affect American ties with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry released a statement expressing surprise and denouncing what it said was a irresponsible attack on a independent country.
During the Biden administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia following its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to mediate 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 primary concern is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic critics were sharper.
"America should not be running other countries for any purpose," 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 stated Maduro is a criminal and a autocrat with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's decision not to inform legislative leaders prior to initiating 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 demands."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he opted not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "disclose" details of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a triumph – with no American deaths and minimal damage to US equipment. Trump, with his typical bravado, portrayed the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "among the most astonishing, successful and powerful demonstrations of American power and proficiency in American history."
Now he is gambling his presidency on that success continuing, as the US says it will assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that truly entails remains unclear. He and his administration must rebuild a nation that has been in chaos for decades while calming a region that is sure to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
