Following executing a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be entering the nation-building business.
In a striking press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president stated that US military forces had effectively seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then indicated that a team 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 run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and careful transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" entails is uncertain, but the pledge marks an sudden change of course for the president, full of inconsistencies and daunting obstacles.
A leader who campaigned against "endless conflicts", who vehemently denounced past US attempts at overthrowing governments and who vowed to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now staking his administration on successfully reconstructing a South American nation whose economic system is in ruins and whose political stability has been eroded by years of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly upbeat.
He claimed his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He vowed to enlist American oil firms to overhaul Venezuela's deteriorating industrial infrastructure, providing funds for the American reconstruction efforts and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He left open the possibility of deploying American soldiers to Venezuela to further these efforts. "We do not fear 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 break it, you own it."
An Altered International Stance
The US has altered Venezuela's future – for better or worse.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago promising to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has proven that he is more than willing to use military force worldwide.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites in Iran, alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
Unlike previous operations, which have mostly involved rockets and aircraft that reduce the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the future of that nation – are markedly different.
His goal, he said during his press conference, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Response at Home and Abroad
That twist on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan may be hard for some of Trump's followers to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who split from the president after charging him of deserting his political base, was quick to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's never ending military aggression and support of overseas conflicts 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 notable 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 reclaim seized US oil and halt fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers supported the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "firm and warranted".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his appearance, the president argued the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it ensured US hemispheric security and provided a steady source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American diplomatic policy that declared the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Trump Doctrine."
The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "protect trade, territory and assets that are core to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will raise broader questions in global politics, however, and impact American ties with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry released a statement expressing surprise and condemning what it said was a reckless attack on a independent country.
During the previous administration, the US offered comparable condemnations of Russia following its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying 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, voiced concern 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 justify an attack of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were blunter.
"The United States 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 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 autocrat with a record of rights violations. But he censured Trump's choice not to consult with legislative leaders prior to launching 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 concerned they would "leak" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
A Path Forward Shrouded in Doubt
That military operation was a triumph – with no American casualties and minimal harm to US equipment. Trump, with his characteristic confidence, described the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most astonishing, effective and powerful displays of American power and competency in US history."
Now he is betting 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 rebuild a nation that has been in chaos for decades while calming a hemisphere that is bound to be apprehensive of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
