Following launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be entering the state-building business.
In a striking media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief stated 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 group comprising Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be assuming control of the embattled nation.
"We are going to administer the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and careful transition," he said.
What exactly "running the country" entails is unclear, but the commitment signifies an abrupt policy reversal for the president, laden with contradictions and formidable obstacles.
A leader who campaigned against "forever wars", who vehemently denounced past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America First" international policy is now gambling his administration on effectively rebuilding a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose political stability has been eroded by years of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly confident.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He promised to recruit American oil firms to repair Venezuela's deteriorating industrial infrastructure, providing funds for the American rebuilding project and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out sending American soldiers to Venezuela to advance 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 consider 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 altered Venezuela's future – whether for good or ill.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has shown that he is ready to use armed force internationally.
In the past week, he ordered air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
Unlike past actions, which have largely involved missiles and warplanes that reduce the exposure of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are strikingly different.
His goal, he said during his press conference, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Domestic and International Reaction
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan could be tough for some of Trump's followers to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who broke with the president after charging him of abandoning his political base, was quick to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's endless military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified because we are forced to fund it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another notable Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on arms and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation 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 describing the military action against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and justified".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his appearance, the president argued the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" agenda because it ensured US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American foreign policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, land and resources that are core to our security interests." He labeled 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 relations with the world's other significant global powers.
The Chinese government released a statement expressing surprise and denouncing what it said was a reckless 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 ceasefire between those two nations – one that has often appeared to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, expressed worry about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My primary concern is now Russia will use this to excuse their unlawful and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an attack of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic opponents were sharper.
"America should not be administering 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 entangled in endless wars and overthrow attempts that carry catastrophic results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a autocrat with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's decision not to consult with 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 demands."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he chose not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "disclose" details of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That mission was a success – with no American casualties and minimal harm to US equipment. Trump, with his typical bravado, portrayed the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most stunning, effective and powerful demonstrations of American power and proficiency in American history."
Now he is betting his presidency on that success enduring, as the US says it will assume responsibility for administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that actually means is unclear. He and his team must strengthen a nation that has been in chaos for decades while calming a hemisphere that is bound to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
