Following launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the state-building business.
In a notable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president stated that US forces had successfully seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then said that a delegation including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be seizing the reins of the troubled nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a secure, proper and careful transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" actually means is unclear, but the commitment marks an abrupt policy reversal for the president, full of inconsistencies and daunting obstacles.
A president who ran on opposing "forever wars", who vehemently denounced past US attempts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America first" international policy is now gambling his presidency on effectively reconstructing a South American nation whose economy is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been eroded by decades of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly optimistic.
He claimed his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this will be no different. He promised to enlist American oil firms to overhaul Venezuela's deteriorating industrial infrastructure, providing financing for the American rebuilding project and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude deploying 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 told reporters.
Trump, a sharp critic of the US intervention of Iraq, will now have to remember the words of one of the American architects of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "If you break it, you own it."
An Altered International Stance
The US has redefined Venezuela's prospects – whether for good or ill.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago pledging to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has proven that he is more than willing to use armed force around the globe.
In the past week, he ordered airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike previous actions, which have mostly involved missiles and warplanes that reduce the risk of American forces to danger, 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 "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Domestic and International Reaction
That twist on Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - mantra might prove difficult for some of Trump's followers to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who broke with the president after charging him of abandoning his political base, was quick to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's perpetual military aggression and backing for 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 critic, 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 retake seized US oil and halt fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "criminal regime" as "decisive and legitimate".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his appearance, the president argued the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" priorities because it ensured US hemispheric security and provided a steady source of oil.
He revived the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that declared 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 preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will not be challenged again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, territory and resources that are core to our security interests." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's choice to apprehend Maduro will raise broader concerns in international relations, however, and impact American ties with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement expressing surprise and condemning what it said was a irresponsible attack on a independent country.
During the previous administration, the US offered comparable censures of Russia after its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to broker a peace deal between those two nations – one that has frequently seemed to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, expressed worry about the precedent 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 invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were blunter.
"America should not be running 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 endless wars and overthrow attempts that carry catastrophic consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a autocrat with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's decision not to inform congressional leaders before launching the attack.
"The President has the legal duty to follow the law and protect democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First demands."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he chose not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" particulars of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a success – with zero 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 powerful displays of American military might and competency in US 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 is unclear. He and his team must fortify a nation that has been in chaos for decades while stabilising a region that is bound to be cautious of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
