Following launching a evening of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the nation-building arena.
In a notable news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the commander-in-chief declared that US forces had successfully captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.
Trump then said that a team comprising Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, collaborating with Venezuelans, would be taking control of the embattled nation.
"We are going to manage the country until such time as we can do a secure, orderly and judicious transition," he said.
What precisely "running the country" involves is unclear, but the pledge marks an sudden shift in direction for the president, rife with contradictions and formidable obstacles.
A leader who ran on opposing "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US attempts at regime change and who promised to implement an "America First" foreign policy is now staking his presidency on successfully revitalizing a South American nation whose economic system is in ruins and whose governmental stability has been undermined by years of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was relentlessly confident.
He claimed his administration has a "unblemished record of winning" – and that this would be no different. He vowed to recruit American energy companies to rebuild Venezuela's deteriorating production infrastructure, supplying financing for the American rebuilding project and benefitting the Venezuelan people.
He declined to rule out sending American soldiers to Venezuela to progress 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 invasion of Iraq, will now have to consider 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."
The US has reshaped Venezuela's prospects – for better or worse.
Trump took office nearly a year ago pledging to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is ready to use armed force internationally.
In the past week, he authorized airstrikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he struck atomic sites in Iran, suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.
Unlike past actions, 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 fate of that nation – are notably distinct.
His aim, he said during his briefing, is to "make Venezuela great again."
That twist on Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - mantra could be difficult for some of Trump's supporters to accept.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist 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 perpetual use of force and support of overseas conflicts is understandable because we are forced to finance it," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. How mistaken we were."
Another notable Trump detractor, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, compared 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 stop 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 "firm and legitimate".
During his appearance, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" priorities because it ensured US hemispheric security and provided a reliable source of oil.
He resurrected the Monroe Doctrine – an nineteenth-century American foreign 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 not be challenged again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "safeguard commerce, territory and resources that are fundamental to our security interests." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "backyard."
Trump's decision to apprehend Maduro will provoke larger concerns in global politics, however, and affect American relations with the world's other significant global powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement expressing surprise and denouncing what it said was a reckless assault on a sovereign nation.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable condemnations of Russia following its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has often seemed 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 worry is now Russia will use this to excuse their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan."
Trump's Democratic opponents were sharper.
"The United States 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 entangled in perpetual conflicts and regime change missions that carry devastating consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker stated Maduro is a lawbreaker and a autocrat with a record of rights violations. But he censured Trump's decision not to consult with legislative leaders before launching the attack.
"The President has the legal duty to follow the law and protect democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First demands."
Trump, in his remarks, said that he opted not to inform Congress because he was worried they would "disclose" particulars of the operation prior to the attack.
That military operation was a success – with zero American casualties and limited harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical bravado, portrayed the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "among the most stunning, effective and impressive displays of American power and proficiency in US history."
Now he is gambling his presidency on that success continuing, as the US says it will take over administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that actually means is unknown. He and his administration must strengthen a nation that has been in turmoil for decades while stabilising a region that is sure to be wary of what Trump's international strategy has planned for them.
