Following launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the nation-building business.
In a striking media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president announced that US forces had effectively captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then said that a team including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the beleaguered nation.
"We are going to administer the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" entails is unclear, but the commitment signifies an dramatic policy reversal for the president, rife with contradictions and formidable obstacles.
A leader who ran on opposing "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US attempts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America first" international policy is now gambling his administration on successfully revitalizing a South American nation whose economy is collapsed and whose governmental stability has been eroded by years of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly optimistic.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He vowed to enlist American oil firms to rebuild Venezuela's deteriorating 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 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 sharp critic of the US invasion of Iraq, will now have to consider the words of one of the American planners of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "You break it, you bought it."
A Changed Global Approach
The US has reshaped Venezuela's destiny – for better or worse.
Trump entered 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 armed force internationally.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted nuclear facilities in Iran, alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, militias in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
In contrast to previous actions, which have largely involved rockets and aircraft that minimize the exposure of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are strikingly distinct.
His goal, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Response at Home and Abroad
That play on Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - mantra may be difficult for some of Trump's followers to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who broke with the president after accusing him of deserting his core supporters, was swift to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's endless military aggression and backing for overseas conflicts is understandable because we are forced to finance it," she stated. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another notable Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to reclaim seized US oil and halt fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and justified".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it guaranteed US hemispheric security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "protect commerce, territory and resources that are core to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's decision to capture Maduro will raise broader questions in international relations, however, and impact American ties with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement voicing surprise and condemning what it said was a reckless assault on a sovereign nation.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable censures of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to mediate a peace deal between those two nations – one that has often seemed to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, voiced worry about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My main concern is now Russia will use this to excuse their unlawful and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an attack of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"The United States should not be administering other countries for any purpose," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have understood by now not to get involved in perpetual conflicts and regime change missions that carry devastating results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a criminal and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's choice not to inform congressional leaders before initiating the attack.
"The President has the constitutional responsibility 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 "disclose" details of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That mission was a success – with no American deaths and limited damage to US assets. Trump, with his typical confidence, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most stunning, effective and impressive displays of American power and competency in US history."
Now he is gambling his presidency on that victory continuing, as the US says it will take over administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unclear. He and his team must fortify a nation that has been in chaos for years while stabilising a hemisphere that is bound to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
