Following launching a evening of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the state-building arena.
In a striking press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president announced that US forces had effectively captured 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 secure, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "governing the state" entails is uncertain, but the vow signifies an abrupt change of course for the president, laden with inconsistencies and significant challenges.
A president who ran on opposing "endless conflicts", who vehemently denounced past US attempts at overthrowing governments and who promised to implement an "America first" international policy is now gambling his presidency on successfully revitalizing a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose political stability has been eroded by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly confident.
He said his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no different. He vowed to recruit American oil firms to rebuild Venezuela's deteriorating production infrastructure, providing financing for the American rebuilding project and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out sending American soldiers to Venezuela to advance 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 invasion 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 shatter it, you are responsible for it."
A Changed Global Approach
The US has altered Venezuela's prospects – for better or worse.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is more than willing to use armed force worldwide.
In the past week, he ordered airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck nuclear facilities in Iran, alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike past actions, which have mostly involved missiles and aircraft that minimize the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his commitments to the fate of that nation – are strikingly different.
His objective, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
Response at Home and Abroad
That play on Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - slogan might prove hard for some of Trump's followers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who broke with the president after charging him of deserting his core supporters, was quick to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's never ending use of force and backing for foreign wars is justified because we are forced to fund 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 official rationale for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to reclaim seized US oil and stop fentanyl production.
The majority of Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the armed intervention against a "criminal regime" as "firm and legitimate".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it ensured US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.
He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American foreign 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 preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will not be questioned again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "protect commerce, land and assets that are central to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's decision to capture Maduro will raise broader concerns in global politics, however, and impact American relations with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement expressing shock and denouncing what it said was a reckless attack on a sovereign nation.
During the previous administration, the US offered comparable condemnations of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has frequently appeared to be more favourable to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, expressed worry about the signal Trump's actions might send.
"My main concern is now Russia will use this to justify their unlawful and brutal operations against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were sharper.
"America should not be running other countries for any purpose," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have learned by now not to get involved in perpetual conflicts and overthrow attempts that carry catastrophic consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a lawbreaker and a autocrat with a record of rights violations. But he condemned Trump's decision not to consult with congressional leaders before launching the attack.
"Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to follow the law and uphold institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First requires."
Trump, in his remarks, explained that he chose not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That military operation was a success – with zero American deaths and minimal damage to US assets. Trump, with his characteristic confidence, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most stunning, successful and powerful demonstrations 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 take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that truly entails is unknown. He and his team must strengthen 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 planned for them.
