In the wake of launching a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the nation-building arena.
In a remarkable press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president announced that US military forces had effectively apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a delegation 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 unclear, but the vow signifies an dramatic shift in direction for the president, full of inconsistencies and daunting challenges.
A leader who campaigned against "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US efforts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America first" foreign policy is now staking his presidency on effectively reconstructing a South American nation whose economic system is collapsed and whose governmental stability has been undermined by years of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was persistently confident.
He said his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He pledged to enlist American energy companies to repair Venezuela's deteriorating industrial infrastructure, providing funds for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude 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 told reporters.
Trump, a sharp critic of the US intervention of Iraq, will now have to heed the words of one of the American architects 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 reshaped Venezuela's prospects – whether for good or ill.
Trump took office nearly a year ago pledging to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has shown that he is ready to use military force worldwide.
In the past week, he ordered airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
In contrast to past operations, which have mostly involved rockets and aircraft that reduce the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his commitments to the future of that nation – are markedly distinct.
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 might prove hard for some of Trump's backers to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump ally who broke with the president after charging him of deserting his core supporters, was quick to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's perpetual military aggression and backing for overseas conflicts is justified because we are compelled to pay for it," she stated. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong."
Another notable Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to retake seized US oil and stop fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "criminal regime" as "decisive and justified".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his appearance, the president said the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" agenda because it guaranteed US regional security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that declared the Western Hemisphere should be without 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 challenged again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, territory and resources that are core to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's choice to apprehend Maduro will raise broader questions in international relations, however, and affect American ties with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese government 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 comparable condemnations of Russia following its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to broker a peace deal between those two nations – one that has often seemed to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, expressed concern about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My main concern is now Russia will use this to justify their unlawful and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents were sharper.
"The United States should not be managing 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 devastating consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of rights violations. But he condemned Trump's choice not to inform legislative leaders before initiating the attack.
"The President has the legal duty to abide by the law and protect institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting 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 zero American deaths and limited harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical confidence, described the operation as a "daring raid" and "among the most astonishing, successful and powerful demonstrations of American military might and proficiency in US history."
Now he is gambling his legacy on that victory enduring, as the US says it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that truly entails remains unclear. He and his team must strengthen a nation that has been in chaos for years while calming a hemisphere that is bound to be cautious of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
