Following launching a evening of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the nation-building business.
In a striking news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president declared that US military forces had successfully captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation 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 seizing the reins of the troubled nation.
"We are going to administer the country until such time as we can do a secure, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" actually means is ambiguous, but the pledge represents an abrupt change of course for the president, rife with inconsistencies and daunting obstacles.
A leader 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 staking his administration on effectively rebuilding a South American nation whose economy is collapsed and whose governmental stability has been eroded by decades of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly optimistic.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He vowed to enlist American oil firms to rebuild Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, providing financing for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude deploying 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 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 break it, you own it."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has redefined Venezuela's destiny – for better or worse.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago promising to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has shown that he is more than willing to use armed force worldwide.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck nuclear facilities in Iran, alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike past operations, which have mostly involved missiles and warplanes that reduce the risk of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his commitments to the fate of that nation – are notably different.
His objective, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Response at Home and Abroad
That twist on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra may be tough for some of Trump's supporters to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who split from the president after accusing him of deserting his core supporters, was quick to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's never ending military aggression and backing for foreign wars is justified because we are compelled to finance it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another prominent Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to reclaim seized 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 "decisive and warranted".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his appearance, 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 resurrected 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 "Trump Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
The goal of the new US security policy, he said, was to "protect trade, land and resources that are central to our security interests." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's choice to apprehend Maduro will provoke larger questions in global politics, however, and affect American ties with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese government released a statement expressing surprise and condemning what it said was a reckless attack on a independent country.
During the previous administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying 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, voiced concern about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My main worry is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an invasion of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic critics were blunter.
"The United States should not be running other countries for any reason," said a senator who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have learned by now not to get involved in perpetual conflicts and regime change missions that carry catastrophic consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a criminal and a dictator with a record of rights violations. But he censured Trump's choice not to inform legislative leaders prior to initiating the attack.
"Donald Trump has the legal duty to follow the law and uphold institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting 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 mission was a success – with zero American casualties and minimal harm to US assets. Trump, with his characteristic confidence, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "among the most astonishing, successful and impressive displays of American military might and proficiency in US history."
Now he is gambling his legacy on that success enduring, as the US says it will assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unclear. He and his administration must rebuild a nation that has been in turmoil for years while calming a region that is bound to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
