Following launching a evening of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be entering the nation-building business.
In a striking media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief declared that US forces had effectively apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a group including 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 run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and careful transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" involves is unclear, but the pledge marks an abrupt policy reversal for the president, rife with inconsistencies and formidable challenges.
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" foreign policy is now betting his administration on successfully revitalizing a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been eroded by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly confident.
He stated his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this will be no different. He pledged to recruit American oil firms to overhaul Venezuela's crumbling industrial infrastructure, providing financing for the American reconstruction efforts and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude sending 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 informed reporters.
Trump, a vocal opponent of the US intervention 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."
A Shift in Foreign Policy
The US has redefined Venezuela's prospects – for better or worse.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is more than willing to use military force worldwide.
In the past week, he ordered air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites in Iran, suspected narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
In contrast to previous operations, which have largely involved missiles and warplanes that minimize the risk of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela operation – and his pledges to the future of that nation – are strikingly different.
His aim, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That variation of Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan could be hard for some of Trump's supporters to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who broke with 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 perpetual military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified because we are compelled to pay for it," she stated. "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 cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to retake seized US oil and halt fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "illegitimate government" as "firm and justified".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his appearance, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it ensured US hemispheric security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He revived 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 "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged again."
The purpose of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, territory and resources that are central to our national security." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's decision to apprehend Maduro will raise larger concerns in international relations, however, and affect American relations with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement expressing 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 after its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to mediate a peace deal between those two nations – one that has frequently appeared to be leaning 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 brutal operations against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an attack of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"America should not be administering other countries for any purpose," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have understood by now not to get entangled in endless wars and regime change missions that carry devastating results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a criminal and a dictator with a record of rights violations. But he censured Trump's choice not to consult with congressional leaders prior to launching the attack.
"The President has the legal duty to follow the law and protect democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First demands."
Trump, in his remarks, explained that he chose not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "leak" details of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a success – with no American casualties and limited harm to US assets. Trump, with his characteristic confidence, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most astonishing, successful and powerful displays of American military might and proficiency in US history."
Now he is staking his presidency on that victory enduring, as the US says it will assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means is unclear. He and his administration must fortify a nation that has been in chaos for decades while calming a hemisphere that is bound to be wary of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
