Following launching a evening 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 estate on Saturday morning, the president announced that US forces had successfully seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then indicated that a group comprising 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 administer the country until such time as we can do a secure, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "managing the nation" entails is ambiguous, but the commitment marks an dramatic change of course for the president, full of inconsistencies and formidable obstacles.
A president who campaigned against "forever wars", who vehemently denounced past US attempts at regime change and who promised to implement an "America First" international policy is now gambling his administration on effectively rebuilding a South American nation whose economy is in ruins and whose political stability has been undermined by decades of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was persistently optimistic.
He said his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He promised to enlist American energy companies to rebuild Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, supplying funds for the American reconstruction efforts and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He left open the possibility of 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 vocal opponent of the US invasion 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 Changed Global Approach
The US has reshaped Venezuela's destiny – for better or worse.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago promising to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has shown that he is ready to use military force worldwide.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, suspected narco-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 mostly involved rockets and warplanes that minimize the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are markedly distinct.
His goal, he said during his press conference, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That variation of Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan could be difficult for some of Trump's backers to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who broke with 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 backing for 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. Boy were we wrong."
Another notable Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug 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 describing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "decisive and justified".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda 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 free from influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Trump Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
The goal of the new US security policy, he said, was to "protect commerce, land and assets that are core to our security interests." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's decision to apprehend Maduro will provoke larger questions in international relations, however, and impact American ties with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement voicing surprise and denouncing what it said was a reckless attack on a sovereign nation.
During the Biden administration, the US offered similar condemnations of Russia following its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to mediate a peace deal between those two nations – one that has frequently appeared to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, voiced concern about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My main worry is now Russia will use this to excuse their unlawful and barbaric operations 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 purpose," said a senator who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have learned by now not to get entangled in perpetual conflicts and regime change missions that carry catastrophic results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a criminal and a autocrat with a record of human rights abuses. But he condemned Trump's decision not to consult with legislative leaders before initiating 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 demands."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he opted not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "leak" details of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That mission was a success – with zero American deaths and minimal damage to US equipment. Trump, with his characteristic bravado, described the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most astonishing, effective and impressive displays of American power and competency in US history."
Now he is gambling his legacy on that success enduring, as the US claims it will assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unclear. He and his administration must rebuild a nation that has been in turmoil for years while stabilising a hemisphere that is bound to be apprehensive of what Trump's international strategy has in store for them.
