In the wake of launching a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the state-building business.
In a striking news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the president announced that US military forces had effectively captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an late-night operation in Caracas.
Trump then announced that a delegation comprising Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the beleaguered nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a secure, orderly and careful transition," he said.
What exactly "governing the state" involves is ambiguous, but the commitment represents an sudden policy reversal for the president, laden with contradictions and daunting challenges.
A president who campaigned against "forever wars", who vehemently denounced past US attempts at regime change and who vowed to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now betting his administration on successfully reconstructing a South American nation whose economic system is collapsed and whose governmental stability has been eroded by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly confident.
He stated his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no different. He pledged to enlist American energy companies to rebuild Venezuela's crumbling production infrastructure, providing funds for the American rebuilding project and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude 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 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 redefined Venezuela's future – whether for good or ill.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago pledging to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is ready to use military force around the globe.
In the past week, he authorized air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, militias in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
In contrast to previous actions, which have mostly involved rockets and warplanes that minimize the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his commitments to the future of that nation – are markedly different.
His aim, he said during his press conference, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Response at Home and Abroad
That play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan could be tough for some of Trump's followers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist who split from the president after charging him of abandoning his core supporters, was quick to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's perpetual military aggression and support of overseas conflicts is justified because we are forced to pay for it," she stated. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another prominent Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on arms and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to reclaim confiscated 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 "criminal regime" as "decisive and justified".
Policy Rationales and Worldwide Consequences
During his press conference, the president argued the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" priorities because it ensured US hemispheric security and provided a steady source of oil.
He resurrected 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 "Trump 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 trade, land and resources that are fundamental to our security interests." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will provoke larger questions in global politics, however, and affect American relations with the world's other major global powers.
The Chinese government released a statement expressing surprise and denouncing what it said was a reckless attack on a independent country.
During the Biden administration, the US offered similar condemnations of Russia after its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to mediate a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has frequently appeared to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman, expressed concern about the message Trump's actions might send.
"My primary worry is now Russia will use this to excuse their illegal and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an invasion of Taiwan."
Political Criticism and Constitutional Questions
Trump's Democratic critics were sharper.
"The United States should not be running other countries for any reason," said a senator who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We should have understood by now not to get involved in endless wars and regime change missions that carry devastating consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a criminal and a dictator with a record of rights violations. But he censured Trump's decision not to consult with legislative 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 press conference, said that he opted not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "disclose" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That mission was a success – with no American casualties and minimal harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical bravado, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most stunning, successful and impressive demonstrations of American military might and proficiency in US history."
Now he is staking his legacy on that success enduring, as the US claims it will take over administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unknown. He and his team must strengthen a nation that has been in turmoil for years while calming a region that is sure to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
