Following executing a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be entering the state-building business.
In a remarkable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president stated that US military forces had successfully apprehended 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, 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, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" actually means is uncertain, but the vow marks an dramatic shift in direction for the president, laden with contradictions and formidable obstacles.
A president who ran on opposing "endless conflicts", who vehemently denounced past US efforts at regime change and who promised to implement an "America first" international policy is now gambling his presidency on successfully rebuilding a South American nation whose economic system is collapsed and whose political stability has been eroded by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was persistently confident.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He pledged to recruit American oil firms to overhaul Venezuela's crumbling industrial infrastructure, supplying capital for the American reconstruction efforts and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude deploying American soldiers to Venezuela to further 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 break it, you own it."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has redefined Venezuela's prospects – whether for good or ill.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has shown that he is ready to use military force around the globe.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites in Iran, alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
In contrast to previous actions, which have mostly involved missiles and aircraft that reduce the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his commitments to the future of that nation – are markedly different.
His goal, he said during his press conference, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Response at Home and Abroad
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra may be hard for some of Trump's followers to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who broke with the president after charging him of deserting his political base, was quick to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's never ending use of force and backing for foreign wars is justified because we are forced to fund 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, compared the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to reclaim confiscated US oil and halt fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "firm and warranted".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his press conference, the president argued the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" agenda because it ensured US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He revived the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American diplomatic policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
The purpose of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, land and assets that are core to our security interests." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's choice to apprehend Maduro will raise larger questions in global politics, however, and affect American ties with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement voicing surprise and condemning what it said was a irresponsible attack on a sovereign nation.
During the Biden administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia following its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting 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 signal Trump's actions might send.
"My primary concern is now Russia will use this to excuse their unlawful and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic critics were sharper.
"America should not be managing other countries for any purpose," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have understood by now not to get entangled in endless wars and regime change missions that carry catastrophic results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a autocrat with a record of rights violations. But he condemned Trump's decision not to inform legislative leaders before launching 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 press conference, said that he chose not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "disclose" particulars of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That mission was a success – with no American deaths and minimal damage to US equipment. Trump, with his typical bravado, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "among the most stunning, effective and impressive demonstrations of American power and competency in US history."
Now he is gambling his presidency on that success enduring, as the US claims it will assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that truly entails remains unclear. He and his team must rebuild a nation that has been in chaos for decades while stabilising a region that is sure to be wary of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.