In the wake of launching a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the state-building arena.
In a striking news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief announced that US military forces had successfully apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a delegation comprising Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be assuming control of the beleaguered nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a secure, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" involves is ambiguous, but the pledge signifies an dramatic shift in direction for the president, rife with contradictions and daunting challenges.
A president who campaigned against "endless conflicts", who vehemently denounced past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America First" international policy is now staking his presidency on successfully revitalizing a South American nation whose economic system is collapsed and whose political stability has been undermined by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was persistently confident.
He said his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He vowed to recruit American energy companies to rebuild Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, providing capital for the American rebuilding project and benefitting 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 vocal opponent of the US intervention of Iraq, will now have to consider the words of one of the American architects of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "You break it, you bought it."
A Changed Global Approach
The US has redefined Venezuela's future – whether for good or ill.
Trump entered office nearly a year ago pledging to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has proven that he is quite prepared to use armed force around the globe.
In the past week, he authorized air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted nuclear facilities in Iran, alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike past operations, which have largely involved rockets and warplanes that reduce the exposure of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his commitments to the fate of that nation – are markedly different.
His aim, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Response at Home and Abroad
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan may be hard for some of Trump's followers to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who split from the president after charging him of deserting his core supporters, was quick to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's perpetual use of force and support of overseas conflicts is understandable because we are forced to fund it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another prominent Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted 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.
Most Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the military action against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and legitimate".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his appearance, the president said the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" agenda because it ensured US hemispheric security and provided a steady source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American diplomatic policy that declared 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 "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will not be questioned again."
The purpose of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard trade, land and resources that are central to our national security." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's decision to apprehend Maduro will provoke broader concerns in global politics, however, and impact American ties with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement expressing surprise and condemning what it said was a irresponsible attack on a independent country.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable censures of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has frequently appeared 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 main worry is now Russia will use this to excuse their illegal and brutal operations against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an attack of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"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 endless wars and overthrow attempts that carry catastrophic results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he condemned Trump's decision not to consult with congressional leaders before initiating the attack.
"The President has the legal duty to abide by 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 worried they would "leak" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That mission was a triumph – with no American casualties and minimal harm to US equipment. Trump, with his typical bravado, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most astonishing, successful and powerful displays of American power and proficiency in American history."
Now he is staking his presidency on that success continuing, as the US says it will assume responsibility for administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unknown. He and his team must rebuild a nation that has been in chaos for decades while stabilising a region that is bound to be cautious of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
