Following executing a evening of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the state-building business.
In a remarkable news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief declared that US forces had effectively captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then indicated that a group comprising Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the embattled nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a secure, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "governing the state" entails is uncertain, but the vow represents an sudden policy reversal for the president, laden with contradictions and daunting obstacles.
A president who campaigned against "endless conflicts", who sharply criticised past US attempts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America first" international policy is now gambling his presidency on effectively rebuilding a South American nation whose economy is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been eroded by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was persistently upbeat.
He claimed his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this will be no different. He pledged to recruit American energy companies to rebuild Venezuela's deteriorating industrial infrastructure, supplying funds for the American rebuilding project and aiding 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 vocal opponent of the US invasion of Iraq, will now have to heed 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 reshaped Venezuela's prospects – for better or worse.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has proven that he is ready to use armed force internationally.
In the past week, he authorized air strikes 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 actions, which have mostly involved missiles and aircraft that reduce the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the future of that nation – are strikingly different.
His aim, he said during his press conference, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Response at Home and Abroad
That play on Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - mantra could be difficult for some of Trump's supporters to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who split from the president after charging him of abandoning his political base, was swift to criticize 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 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 detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the official rationale 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.
The majority of Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "firm and legitimate".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his appearance, the president argued the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it ensured US regional security and provided a steady 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 renamed it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will not be questioned again."
The goal of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, territory and resources that are central to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will provoke broader concerns in global politics, however, and affect American relations with the world's other major global powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry released a statement voicing surprise and denouncing what it said was a irresponsible attack on a sovereign nation.
During the previous administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to mediate a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has frequently appeared to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, expressed worry about the message 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 justify an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were blunter.
"The United States 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 involved in perpetual conflicts and overthrow attempts that carry devastating results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's choice not to inform congressional leaders before launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the legal duty to follow the law and uphold democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First demands."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he opted not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That military operation was a triumph – with no American deaths and minimal harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical bravado, described the operation as a "daring raid" and "among the most astonishing, effective and powerful demonstrations of American military might and competency in American history."
Now he is betting his presidency on that victory enduring, as the US says it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unknown. He and his team must fortify a nation that has been in turmoil for decades while stabilising a hemisphere that is bound to be cautious of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
