In the wake of executing a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the state-building arena.
In a notable media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president declared that US military forces had successfully seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a team including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be assuming control of the embattled nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" entails is unclear, but the vow represents an sudden shift in direction for the president, full of contradictions and daunting challenges.
A president 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 staking his presidency on effectively rebuilding a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose political stability has been undermined 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 vowed to recruit American energy companies to overhaul Venezuela's deteriorating production infrastructure, supplying funds for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude sending American soldiers to Venezuela to further these efforts. "We're not afraid of boots on the ground…we had boots on the ground last night," he told reporters.
Trump, a vocal opponent of the US invasion of Iraq, will now have to remember the words of one of the American planners 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 prospects – for better or worse.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago promising to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is quite prepared to use military force internationally.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted nuclear facilities in Iran, alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, militias in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
Unlike previous operations, which have mostly involved missiles and warplanes that reduce the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the future of that nation – are strikingly different.
His objective, 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 may be difficult for some of Trump's backers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who split from the president after accusing him of abandoning 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 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, contrasted the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to reclaim confiscated US oil and stop fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "decisive and warranted".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his appearance, the president argued the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" priorities because it guaranteed US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American diplomatic policy that asserted 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 supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
The purpose of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, territory and assets that are central to our security interests." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's decision to capture Maduro will provoke broader questions in global politics, however, and affect American relations with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement voicing surprise and condemning what it said was a irresponsible assault on a independent country.
During the Biden administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia after its incursion 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 signal Trump's actions might send.
"My main concern is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"The United States 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 perpetual conflicts and overthrow attempts that carry catastrophic consequences 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 consult with legislative leaders before launching the attack.
"The President has the constitutional responsibility to abide by the law and protect institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First requires."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he chose not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "disclose" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a triumph – with zero American casualties and limited damage to US equipment. Trump, with his characteristic bravado, described the operation as a "daring raid" and "among the most stunning, successful and impressive displays of American power and competency in American history."
Now he is gambling his presidency on that success continuing, as the US claims it will assume responsibility for running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that truly entails remains unclear. He and his administration must strengthen a nation that has been in turmoil for years while calming a hemisphere that is bound to be cautious of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
