Following executing a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be entering the state-building arena.
In a striking news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president declared that US military forces had effectively seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then said that a group including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, working with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the embattled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a secure, proper and careful transition," he said.
What exactly "governing the state" actually means is ambiguous, but the commitment represents an dramatic shift in direction for the president, rife with inconsistencies and formidable challenges.
A president who ran on opposing "endless conflicts", who sharply criticised past US efforts at regime change and who promised to implement an "America first" international policy is now gambling his presidency on effectively reconstructing a South American nation whose economic system is in shambles and whose governmental stability has been undermined by decades of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was persistently optimistic.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no exception. He pledged to enlist American energy companies to overhaul Venezuela's deteriorating industrial infrastructure, supplying capital for the American reconstruction efforts and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out deploying American soldiers to Venezuela to advance 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 planners of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell: "If you break it, you own it."
A Changed Global Approach
The US has redefined Venezuela's future – for better or worse.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has shown that he is quite prepared to use armed force around the globe.
In the past week, he ordered airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck nuclear facilities in Iran, suspected narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and jihadist fighters in Iraq.
Unlike past actions, which have mostly involved rockets and warplanes that reduce the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his commitments to the future of that nation – are strikingly distinct.
His objective, he said during his briefing, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Reactions from Allies and Critics
That play on Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - mantra may be difficult for some of Trump's supporters to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who split from the president after charging him of abandoning his core supporters, was swift to criticize the president's actions on social media.
"Public outrage with our own government's never ending military aggression and backing for foreign wars is justified because we are forced to fund 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 weapons and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to reclaim seized US oil and stop fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "firm and justified".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" agenda because it ensured US hemispheric security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He revived the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that declared the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and renamed it the "Trump Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will not be challenged again."
The purpose of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "safeguard trade, territory and assets that are central to our security interests." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "sphere of influence."
Trump's choice to capture Maduro will raise broader questions in global politics, however, and impact American ties with the world's other major military powers.
The Chinese foreign ministry released a statement expressing shock and denouncing what it said was a reckless attack on a sovereign nation.
During the Biden administration, the US offered similar censures of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to mediate a ceasefire 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 message Trump's actions might send.
"My primary concern is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and brutal operations against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic critics were sharper.
"The United States should not be running other countries for any purpose," said a senator who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have learned by now not to get involved in perpetual conflicts and overthrow attempts that carry catastrophic results for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a lawbreaker and a dictator with a record of rights violations. But he condemned Trump's decision not to inform congressional leaders prior to launching the attack.
"The President has the constitutional responsibility to follow the law and protect 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 "leak" details of the operation prior to the attack.
An Uncertain Future
That military operation was a success – with zero American deaths and minimal harm to US equipment. Trump, with his characteristic bravado, portrayed the operation as a "daring raid" and "one of the most stunning, effective and impressive demonstrations of American military might and competency in US history."
Now he is staking his legacy on that success continuing, as the US says it will take over administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that truly entails is unknown. He and his administration must rebuild a nation that has been in chaos for years while stabilising a hemisphere that is bound to be apprehensive of what Trump's foreign policy has in store for them.
