Following launching 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 commander-in-chief declared that US military forces had successfully captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a group comprising Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be assuming control of the embattled nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a safe, orderly and careful transition," he said.
What precisely "managing the nation" involves is unclear, but the commitment marks an dramatic change of course for the president, laden with contradictions and significant obstacles.
A leader who campaigned against "forever wars", who vehemently denounced past US attempts at regime change and who promised to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now betting his presidency on successfully revitalizing a South American nation whose economy is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been eroded by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was persistently optimistic.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He vowed to recruit American energy companies to repair Venezuela's crumbling industrial infrastructure, supplying funds for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He left open the possibility of sending 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 break it, you own it."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has reshaped Venezuela's future – whether for good or ill.
Trump entered office nearly a year ago pledging to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has demonstrated 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, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
In contrast to previous operations, which have largely involved missiles and warplanes that reduce the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – 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."
Response at Home and Abroad
That play on Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - mantra might prove hard for some of Trump's supporters to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who split from the president after accusing him of deserting his political base, was swift to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's never ending military aggression and support of foreign wars is understandable because we are forced to pay for it," she stated. "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 weapons and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to retake confiscated US oil and stop fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the military action against a "illegitimate government" as "firm and legitimate".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
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 nineteenth-century American foreign policy that asserted 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 questioned again."
The purpose of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, territory and assets that are core to our national security." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's choice to apprehend Maduro will raise broader questions in international relations, however, and affect American relations with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement voicing shock and condemning what it said was a reckless assault on a sovereign nation.
During the Biden administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia after its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker a peace deal between those two nations – one that has often seemed to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, expressed concern about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My primary concern is now Russia will use this to excuse their illegal and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to justify 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 reason," said a senator who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have learned by now not to get entangled in endless wars and overthrow attempts that carry devastating results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a lawbreaker and a autocrat with a record of human rights abuses. But he condemned Trump's choice not to inform legislative leaders before launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the legal duty to abide by the law and protect institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First demands."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he opted not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" details of the operation before the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That mission was a success – with zero American deaths and limited damage to US equipment. Trump, with his typical confidence, described the operation as a "daring raid" and "among the most astonishing, effective and powerful demonstrations of American power and competency in US history."
Now he is betting his presidency on that victory continuing, as the US says it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that truly entails is unknown. He and his administration must strengthen a nation that has been in chaos for years while calming a hemisphere that is bound to be cautious of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
