Following launching a evening 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 commander-in-chief announced that US forces had successfully seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a team featuring Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be seizing the reins of the beleaguered nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a safe, orderly and careful transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" actually means is ambiguous, but the commitment represents an dramatic change of course for the president, laden with inconsistencies and significant obstacles.
A leader who campaigned against "endless conflicts", who sharply criticised past US attempts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America first" foreign policy is now betting his presidency on successfully rebuilding a South American nation whose economic system is collapsed and whose political stability has been undermined by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly confident.
He said his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He vowed to enlist American oil firms to repair Venezuela's deteriorating production infrastructure, supplying funds for the American rebuilding project and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude sending 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 intervention of Iraq, will now have to consider the words of one of the American planners of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "If you shatter it, you are responsible for it."
An Altered International Stance
The US has altered Venezuela's destiny – for better or worse.
Trump entered office nearly a year ago pledging to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is more than willing to use military force worldwide.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites 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 mostly involved missiles and warplanes that reduce the exposure of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are strikingly distinct.
His aim, 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 supporters to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who broke with the president after accusing him of abandoning his political base, was quick to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's never ending military aggression and backing for foreign wars is understandable because we are forced to pay for it," she stated. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong."
Another prominent Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to retake seized US oil and stop fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "firm and warranted".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his appearance, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" priorities because it guaranteed US regional security and provided a reliable 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 rebranded it the "Trump Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
The goal of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard trade, territory and resources that are central to our security interests." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will raise larger questions in international relations, however, and affect American relations with the world's other significant global powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry released a statement expressing surprise and condemning what it said was a reckless attack on a independent country.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable condemnations 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 seemed to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, expressed concern about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My main worry is now Russia will use this to justify their unlawful and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to justify an attack of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents 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 learned by now not to get entangled in perpetual conflicts and overthrow attempts that carry catastrophic consequences 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 decision not to inform congressional leaders prior to launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the legal duty to follow the law and protect democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First demands."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he opted not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" details of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a triumph – with no American casualties and minimal harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical bravado, portrayed the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most astonishing, effective and impressive demonstrations of American military might and competency in US history."
Now he is staking his presidency on that victory enduring, as the US claims it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that truly entails remains unknown. He and his administration must strengthen a nation that has been in chaos for decades while stabilising a region that is sure to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
