Following launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be entering the nation-building arena.
In a striking media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president declared that US military forces had effectively seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a delegation featuring Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be assuming control of the troubled nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" involves is unclear, but the commitment signifies an dramatic policy reversal for the president, full of inconsistencies and daunting challenges.
A president who campaigned against "forever wars", 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 effectively rebuilding a South American nation whose economic system is in ruins and whose political stability has been undermined by decades 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 pledged to enlist American oil firms to repair Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, supplying capital for the American rebuilding project and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude 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 sharp critic of the US invasion 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 Changed Global Approach
The US has altered Venezuela's future – for better or worse.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has shown that he is quite prepared to use armed force worldwide.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, militias in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
Unlike past operations, which have mostly involved rockets and warplanes that minimize the exposure of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the future of that nation – are strikingly distinct.
His aim, he said during his press conference, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That twist on Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - mantra may be tough for some of Trump's backers to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who split from the president after charging him of abandoning his political base, was quick to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's never ending military aggression and backing for foreign wars is understandable because we are compelled to fund it," she stated. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another notable Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to reclaim confiscated US oil and halt fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "criminal regime" as "firm and legitimate".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, the president argued the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda 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 asserted the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged again."
The purpose of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard trade, territory and resources that are core 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 relations with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement voicing surprise and denouncing what it said was a irresponsible attack on a independent country.
During the previous administration, the US offered similar condemnations of Russia after its invasion 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 centrist Republican congressman, expressed worry about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My primary worry is now Russia will use this to excuse their unlawful and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an invasion of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"America should not be running other countries for any reason," said a senator who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have understood by now not to get entangled in endless wars and regime change missions that carry devastating consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of rights violations. But he condemned Trump's choice not to inform legislative leaders before launching the attack.
"The President has the constitutional responsibility to abide by the law and uphold democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First requires."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he opted not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "disclose" details of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a success – with no American deaths and minimal harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical bravado, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "among the most astonishing, successful and impressive demonstrations of American military might and proficiency in US history."
Now he is betting 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 unclear. He and his administration must strengthen a nation that has been in chaos for decades while stabilising a hemisphere that is bound to be wary of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
