In the wake of launching a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the nation-building arena.
In a remarkable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief stated that US forces had successfully apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a group featuring Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working 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 secure, proper and careful transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" involves is ambiguous, but the pledge signifies an sudden change of course for the president, full of contradictions and formidable challenges.
A president who ran on opposing "forever wars", who vehemently denounced past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who promised to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now betting his administration on effectively rebuilding a South American nation whose economic system is in ruins and whose political stability has been eroded by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly upbeat.
He claimed his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He promised to recruit American oil firms to rebuild Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, supplying funds for the American rebuilding project and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He left open the possibility of deploying American soldiers to Venezuela to progress these efforts. "We do not fear 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 heed the words of one of the American architects of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "If you shatter it, you are responsible for it."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has reshaped Venezuela's prospects – for better or worse.
Trump took office 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 internationally.
In the past week, he authorized air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck nuclear facilities in Iran, suspected 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 largely involved missiles and aircraft that minimize the risk of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his commitments to the fate of that nation – are markedly different.
His goal, he said during his press conference, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Response at Home and Abroad
That variation of Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan might prove hard for some of Trump's followers to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who broke with the president after accusing him of abandoning his political base, was swift to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's never ending use of force and support of foreign wars is understandable because we are compelled 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 seized US oil and halt fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and warranted".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, the president argued the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" priorities because it ensured US regional security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He revived the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that declared the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Trump Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence 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 fundamental to our security interests." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's decision to capture Maduro will provoke larger concerns in global politics, however, and affect American relations with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement expressing surprise and condemning what it said was a reckless 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 broker a peace deal between those two nations – one that has frequently seemed to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, voiced concern about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My main concern is now Russia will use this to justify their unlawful and brutal military actions against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an attack of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic opponents were more direct.
"The United States 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 perpetual conflicts and regime change missions that carry devastating consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a criminal and a autocrat with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's decision not to inform legislative leaders prior to launching the attack.
"The President has the legal duty to follow the law and uphold democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First demands."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he chose not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "leak" details of the operation prior to the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That military operation was a triumph – with zero American deaths and minimal harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical bravado, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "among the most stunning, successful and powerful displays of American power and proficiency in US history."
Now he is gambling his legacy on that victory enduring, as the US claims it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that truly entails remains unclear. He and his administration must rebuild a nation that has been in chaos for years while stabilising a hemisphere that is bound to be apprehensive of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
