In the wake of launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be entering the nation-building business.
In a remarkable press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president announced that US forces had effectively seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a team including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the troubled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" actually means is uncertain, but the commitment signifies an abrupt policy reversal for the president, rife with inconsistencies and formidable obstacles.
A leader who ran on opposing "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US attempts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America first" international policy is now betting his administration on effectively reconstructing a South American nation whose economic system is collapsed and whose political stability has been eroded by years of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was persistently optimistic.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no different. He pledged to enlist American energy companies to overhaul Venezuela's deteriorating production infrastructure, providing capital for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He left open the possibility of deploying American soldiers to Venezuela to progress these efforts. "We do not fear boots on the ground…we had boots on the ground last night," he informed reporters.
Trump, a vocal opponent of the US intervention of Iraq, will now have to consider 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 entered office nearly a year ago pledging to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has proven that he is more than willing to use military force worldwide.
In the past week, he authorized air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites in Iran, suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
In contrast to past actions, which have largely involved missiles and warplanes that reduce the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his commitments to the future of that nation – are markedly distinct.
His aim, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Response at Home and Abroad
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - mantra might prove difficult for some of Trump's followers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who split from the president after charging him of abandoning his political base, was quick to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's endless military aggression and backing for overseas conflicts is justified because we are forced to pay for it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong."
Another prominent Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to retake seized US oil and stop fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and warranted".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, 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 nineteenth-century American diplomatic policy that declared the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Trump Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
The goal of the new US security policy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, territory and resources that are core to our security interests." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's choice to apprehend Maduro will raise larger questions in global politics, however, and impact American ties with the world's other major global powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement expressing surprise and condemning what it said was a irresponsible attack on a sovereign nation.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable 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 often appeared to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, voiced worry about the message Trump's actions might send.
"My main worry is now Russia will use this to excuse their illegal and brutal military actions against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an invasion of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic critics were blunter.
"America should not be administering 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 endless wars and overthrow attempts that carry catastrophic results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a criminal and a autocrat with a record of human rights abuses. But he condemned Trump's choice not to inform legislative leaders before launching the attack.
"The President has the constitutional responsibility to abide by the law and protect democratic 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 worried they would "leak" details of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a success – with zero American deaths and minimal harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical confidence, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "among the most astonishing, effective and powerful demonstrations of American power and competency in American history."
Now he is staking his legacy on that victory continuing, as the US claims it will take over administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that truly entails remains unknown. He and his administration must strengthen a nation that has been in chaos for years while calming a hemisphere that is bound to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has planned for them.
