Following launching a evening of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the nation-building arena.
In a notable press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president announced that US military forces had successfully captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a team comprising Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be assuming control of the troubled nation.
"We are going to administer the country until such time as we can do a secure, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" entails is unclear, but the commitment signifies an dramatic change of course for the president, full of contradictions and significant challenges.
A president who ran on opposing "endless conflicts", who sharply criticised past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now betting his administration on effectively reconstructing a South American nation whose economy is collapsed and whose political stability has been undermined by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly upbeat.
He said his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no different. He pledged to enlist American energy companies to repair Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, supplying financing for the American reconstruction efforts and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude deploying American soldiers to Venezuela to advance 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 intervention of Iraq, will now have to remember 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 reshaped Venezuela's prospects – whether for good or ill.
Trump entered office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is more than willing to use armed force around the globe.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, suspected narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
In contrast to previous actions, which have mostly involved missiles and aircraft that minimize the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the future of that nation – are notably different.
His objective, 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 may be tough for some of Trump's followers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who split from the president after accusing him of deserting his political base, was swift to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's perpetual military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified 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 critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to retake confiscated US oil and halt fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the armed intervention against a "criminal regime" as "firm and warranted".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" agenda because it guaranteed US hemispheric 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 free from influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Trump Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US supremacy 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 resources that are core to our national security." He branded 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 ties with the world's other significant global powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry released a statement expressing shock and condemning what it said was a reckless assault on a independent country.
During the previous 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 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 primary worry is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an attack of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were sharper.
"America should not be running other countries for any purpose," said a senator who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have understood by now not to get entangled in perpetual conflicts and regime change missions that carry devastating results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of rights violations. But he condemned Trump's choice not to consult with legislative leaders before initiating the attack.
"Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to abide by the law and uphold democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First requires."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he chose not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "leak" particulars of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That mission was a success – with no American deaths and limited damage to US equipment. Trump, with his typical bravado, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most astonishing, successful and impressive demonstrations of American military might and proficiency in American history."
Now he is gambling his presidency on that victory continuing, as the US claims it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that truly entails remains unknown. He and his administration must fortify a nation that has been in chaos for years while calming a hemisphere that is sure to be cautious of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
