In the wake of launching a evening of shock and awe 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 commander-in-chief stated that US forces had successfully seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then indicated that a team comprising Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be seizing the reins of the embattled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" involves is uncertain, but the vow signifies an sudden shift in direction for the president, rife with contradictions and significant obstacles.
A president who campaigned against "forever wars", who vehemently denounced past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America First" international policy is now gambling his administration on successfully revitalizing a South American nation whose economic system is in ruins and whose governmental stability has been eroded by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly optimistic.
He said his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He pledged to recruit American energy companies to overhaul Venezuela's crumbling industrial infrastructure, providing funds for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He left open the possibility of sending American soldiers to Venezuela to advance 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 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 Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has reshaped Venezuela's future – for better or worse.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has shown that he is quite prepared to use military force worldwide.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck nuclear facilities in Iran, suspected narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike previous operations, which have largely involved rockets and warplanes that minimize the exposure 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 briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Response at Home and Abroad
That variation of Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra might prove tough for some of Trump's backers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who broke with the president after charging him of deserting his political base, was swift to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's perpetual military aggression and support of overseas conflicts is understandable because we are compelled to finance it," she stated. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong."
Another prominent Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on arms and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to reclaim seized US oil and stop fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the armed intervention against a "criminal regime" as "firm and legitimate".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" agenda because it ensured US hemispheric security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American diplomatic policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will not be questioned again."
The goal of the new US security policy, he said, was to "protect trade, territory and resources that are fundamental to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's choice to apprehend Maduro will raise broader concerns in global politics, however, and affect American ties with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement expressing surprise and denouncing what it said was a reckless assault on a sovereign nation.
During the previous administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia after its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to mediate a peace deal between those two nations – one that has often appeared to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, voiced concern about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My main worry is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and brutal military actions 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 Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have understood by now not to get entangled in perpetual conflicts and overthrow attempts that carry devastating results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's decision not to inform congressional leaders before initiating the attack.
"Donald Trump has the legal duty to follow the law and uphold democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First requires."
Trump, in his remarks, explained that he chose not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "disclose" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a success – with zero American casualties and minimal damage to US assets. Trump, with his typical confidence, portrayed the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "among the most stunning, successful and powerful demonstrations of American power and proficiency in American history."
Now he is gambling his presidency on that victory continuing, as the US claims it will take over administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that truly entails is unclear. He and his team must strengthen a nation that has been in chaos for decades while stabilising a region that is bound to be apprehensive of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
