Following executing a night of overwhelming force in Venezuela, Donald Trump seems to be getting into the nation-building business.
In a striking press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president stated that US military forces had successfully apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid 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 seizing the reins of the embattled nation.
"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," he said.
What exactly "managing the nation" entails is ambiguous, but the pledge represents an sudden policy reversal for the president, full of contradictions and formidable challenges.
A leader who ran on opposing "forever wars", who vehemently denounced past US efforts at regime change and who promised to implement an "America first" international policy is now betting his presidency on successfully revitalizing a South American nation whose economic system is in ruins and whose political stability has been eroded by decades of dictatorship.
Yet, Trump was unwaveringly upbeat.
He said his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this will be no exception. He vowed to enlist American oil firms to repair Venezuela's deteriorating industrial infrastructure, providing financing for the American rebuilding project and aiding the Venezuelan people.
He did not exclude deploying American soldiers to Venezuela to advance these efforts. "We're not afraid of 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 break it, you own it."
The US has altered Venezuela's destiny – for better or worse.
Trump took office nearly a year ago promising to be a diplomat, but over the past year he has proven that he is quite prepared to use military force around the globe.
In the past week, he ordered air strikes 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 largely involved missiles and warplanes that minimize the exposure of American forces to danger, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his pledges to the future of that nation – are notably different.
His goal, he said during his press conference, is to "restore Venezuela's greatness."
That play on Trump's "MAGA" – or Maga - slogan might prove tough for some of Trump's backers to swallow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who broke with the president after accusing him of abandoning his political base, was swift to condemn the president's actions on social media.
"Americans' disgust with our own government's never ending use of force and support of overseas conflicts is justified 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, contrasted the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and drug trafficking charges – with Trump's reasoning that the operation was to reclaim 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 "criminal regime" as "decisive and warranted".
During his appearance, the president argued the Venezuelan operation furthered his "America First" agenda because it guaranteed US hemispheric security and provided a steady source of oil.
He revived the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be without influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Trump Doctrine."
The move in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
The purpose of the new US security policy, he said, was to "protect trade, territory and resources that are core to our national security." He labeled the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region."
Trump's decision to apprehend Maduro will raise broader concerns in international relations, however, and impact American relations with the world's other major global powers.
The Chinese government issued a statement voicing surprise and condemning what it said was a irresponsible assault on a independent country.
During the Biden administration, the US offered comparable condemnations of Russia following its incursion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is attempting to broker a ceasefire between those two nations – one that has often seemed to be leaning to the Russian side.
Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman, voiced worry about the precedent Trump's actions might send.
"My primary concern is now Russia will use this to excuse their unlawful and brutal military actions against Ukraine, or China to rationalize an attack 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 endless wars and regime change missions that carry catastrophic consequences for Americans."
Another senior Democratic lawmaker said Maduro is a criminal and a autocrat with a record of human rights abuses. But he censured Trump's choice not to consult with legislative leaders before initiating the attack.
"The President has the legal duty to follow the law and uphold institutional norms in the United States," he said. "That is what placing America First demands."
Trump, in his press conference, explained that he chose not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" details of the operation prior to the attack.
That mission was a triumph – with no American casualties and minimal harm to US assets. Trump, with his typical bravado, portrayed the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most stunning, successful and impressive demonstrations of American military might and competency in US history."
Now he is betting his legacy on that success continuing, as the US says it will assume responsibility for administering and reconstructing Venezuela - though what that truly entails is unclear. He and his team must rebuild a nation that has been in chaos for decades while stabilising a region that is bound to be wary of what Trump's international strategy has in store for them.
Eva de Vries is a passionate book lover and local writer from Eindhoven.
