In the wake of launching a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the nation-building business.
In a notable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president stated that US forces had successfully apprehended 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, working with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the beleaguered nation.
"We are going to administer the country until such time as we can do a secure, orderly and careful transition," he said.
What precisely "managing the nation" involves is ambiguous, but the vow represents an abrupt shift in direction for the president, rife with inconsistencies and formidable obstacles.
A leader who campaigned against "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US attempts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now staking his presidency on successfully rebuilding a South American nation whose economic system is in ruins and whose governmental stability has been eroded by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was persistently confident.
He claimed his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this will be no different. He vowed to recruit American energy companies to rebuild Venezuela's deteriorating production infrastructure, providing funds for the American rebuilding project and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out sending American soldiers to Venezuela to further 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 invasion of Iraq, will now have to remember 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 altered Venezuela's prospects – whether for good or ill.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago promising to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is ready to use military force internationally.
In the past week, he ordered air strikes 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 Islamic militants in Iraq.
Unlike past actions, which have mostly involved rockets and warplanes that minimize the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his commitments to the future of that nation – are notably different.
His goal, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan may be hard for some of Trump's supporters to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who split from the president after accusing him of abandoning his core supporters, was quick to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's perpetual military aggression and support of overseas conflicts is understandable because we are forced 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, contrasted the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to reclaim confiscated US oil and stop fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "firm and legitimate".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, the president argued the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" priorities because it guaranteed US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American diplomatic policy that declared the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Trump Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will not be challenged again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "protect commerce, land and resources that are fundamental to our security interests." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will raise broader concerns in international relations, however, and affect American ties with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry released a statement voicing shock and condemning what it said was a irresponsible assault on a sovereign nation.
During the Biden administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia following its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has often seemed to be more favourable 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 excuse their unlawful and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were blunter.
"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 regime change missions that carry catastrophic consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a autocrat with a record of rights violations. But he condemned Trump's choice not to inform congressional leaders prior to initiating the attack.
"Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to abide by the law and uphold institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First requires."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he chose not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" particulars of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a triumph – with zero American casualties and limited harm to US assets. Trump, with his characteristic confidence, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most stunning, effective and powerful demonstrations of American military might and competency in US history."
Now he is betting his legacy on that success continuing, as the US says it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that truly entails is unclear. He and his administration must fortify a nation that has been in turmoil for decades while stabilising a hemisphere that is sure to be wary of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
