Following launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the state-building business.
In a remarkable press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president announced that US forces had effectively apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then said that a delegation including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be assuming control of the beleaguered nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and careful transition," he said.
What exactly "governing the state" actually means is uncertain, but the vow represents an dramatic change of course for the president, rife with contradictions and formidable challenges.
A president who campaigned against "endless conflicts", who vehemently denounced past US attempts at overthrowing governments and who promised to implement an "America first" foreign policy is now betting his presidency on effectively revitalizing a South American nation whose economy is collapsed and whose governmental stability has been undermined by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly optimistic.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no different. He pledged to recruit American oil firms to overhaul Venezuela's deteriorating production infrastructure, supplying financing for the American reconstruction efforts and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He left open the possibility of sending 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 sharp critic of the US intervention of Iraq, will now have to remember 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 Changed Global Approach
The US has altered Venezuela's destiny – for better or worse.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has shown that he is quite prepared to use armed force internationally.
In the past week, he ordered airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck nuclear facilities in Iran, suspected narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike past actions, which have mostly involved rockets and warplanes that reduce the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the fate of that nation – are strikingly distinct.
His aim, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Response at Home and Abroad
That variation of Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - slogan might prove 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 core supporters, was swift to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's endless use of force and backing for foreign wars is justified because we are compelled to finance it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong."
Another prominent Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted 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 stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing 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 guaranteed US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American diplomatic policy that declared 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 preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged again."
The goal of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "protect trade, territory and resources that are fundamental to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will provoke broader concerns in global politics, however, and impact American ties with the world's other significant global powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement voicing surprise and denouncing what it said was a irresponsible attack on a independent country.
During the previous administration, the US offered comparable censures of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to mediate a peace deal between those two nations – one that has frequently seemed to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, voiced worry about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My primary worry is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and brutal military actions against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an attack of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were more direct.
"The United States should not be administering other countries for any purpose," 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 regime change missions that carry devastating consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's choice not to consult with congressional leaders before launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the legal duty to abide by the law and uphold democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First requires."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he opted not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" details of the operation before the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a success – with no American deaths and limited damage to US equipment. Trump, with his typical confidence, portrayed the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "among the most stunning, successful and impressive displays 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 truly entails is unclear. He and his administration must fortify a nation that has been in turmoil for decades while stabilising a region that is bound to be apprehensive of what Trump's international strategy has in store for them.
