Following launching a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the state-building arena.
In a remarkable news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief declared that US military forces had effectively captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then said that a delegation comprising Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be seizing the reins of the troubled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "governing the state" involves is ambiguous, but the commitment represents an dramatic policy reversal for the president, full of contradictions and daunting obstacles.
A president who campaigned against "forever wars", who vehemently denounced past US efforts at regime change and who promised to implement an "America first" international policy is now staking his administration on successfully reconstructing a South American nation whose economy is collapsed and whose political stability has been eroded by decades of authoritarian rule.
Yet, Trump was persistently upbeat.
He claimed his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He vowed to recruit American oil firms to repair Venezuela's crumbling industrial infrastructure, providing capital for the American rebuilding project and aiding 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 informed reporters.
Trump, a sharp critic of the US intervention 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 reshaped Venezuela's destiny – whether for good or ill.
Trump came to power nearly a year ago pledging to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has shown that he is ready to use military force internationally.
In the past week, he authorized air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted atomic sites in Iran, alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, insurgent groups in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
Unlike past actions, which have largely involved missiles and warplanes that reduce the risk of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the future of that nation – are markedly distinct.
His aim, he said during his press conference, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
Response at Home and Abroad
That variation of Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan might prove hard for some of Trump's supporters to digest.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump ally who broke with the president after charging him of abandoning his political base, was swift to denounce the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's never ending military aggression and backing for overseas conflicts is justified because we are compelled to finance it," she stated. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong."
Another prominent Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, contrasted the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on arms and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to retake seized US oil and halt fentanyl production.
Most Republican lawmakers stood by the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the military action against a "illegitimate government" as "decisive and justified".
Strategic Justifications and Global Implications
During his press conference, 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 revived the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American diplomatic policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Donroe Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
The goal of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "protect trade, land and assets that are fundamental to our security interests." He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's decision to apprehend Maduro will provoke broader concerns in global politics, however, and impact American relations with the world's other significant military powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement voicing shock and condemning what it said was a reckless attack on a sovereign nation.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable condemnations of Russia after its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker 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 precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My primary worry is now Russia will use this to justify their unlawful and barbaric operations against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan."
Opposition and Legal Scrutiny
Trump's Democratic opponents were blunter.
"America should not be running other countries for any reason," said a senator who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have understood by now not to get involved in perpetual conflicts and regime change missions that carry catastrophic results 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 legal duty to abide by the law and uphold institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First demands."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he opted 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 success – with no American deaths and minimal harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical bravado, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "among the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American power and proficiency in US history."
Now he is gambling his presidency on that success enduring, as the US claims it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means remains unknown. He and his administration must strengthen a nation that has been in turmoil for decades while stabilising a region that is bound to be wary of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
