After launching a night of shock and awe in Venezuela, Donald Trump now appears to be getting into the nation-building business.

In a remarkable press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday morning, the president announced that US forces had successfully captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid in Caracas.

Then Trump said a team that included 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 safe, proper and judicious transition," he said.

What exactly "running the country" actually means is unclear, but the pledge represents an abrupt change of course for the president, rife with contradictions and daunting obstacles.

A president who campaigned against "forever wars", who sharply criticised past US efforts at regime change and who promised to implement an "America first" foreign policy is now staking his presidency on successfully reconstructing a South American nation whose economy is in shambles and whose political stability has been undermined by decades of dictatorship.

Yet Trump was relentlessly optimistic.

He said his administration has a "perfect track record of winning" – and that this would be no different. He pledged to recruit American energy companies to rebuild Venezuela's crumbling industrial infrastructure, providing funds 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'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 heed the words of one of the American architects of the Iraq War, Secretary of State Colin Powell, "If you break it, you own it."

The US has reshaped Venezuela's future – for better or worse.

Trump entered office nearly a year ago promising to be a peacemaker, but over the past year he has demonstrated that he is more than willing to use military force around the globe.

In the past week, he ordered air strikes on Syria and Nigeria. In 2025, he targeted nuclear facilities in Iran, suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, rebel forces in Yemen, armed groups in Somalia and Islamic militants in Iraq.

Unlike the past actions, which have largely involved missiles and aircraft that reduce the exposure of American forces to harm, Trump's Venezuela strike – and his commitments to the future of that nation – are notably different.

His goal, he said during his press conference, is to "make Venezuela great again".

That twist on Trump's "Make America Great Again" – or Maga - slogan may be tough for some of Trump's supporters to swallow.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump loyalist who broke with the president after accusing him of abandoning his political base, was quick to condemn the president's actions on X.

"Americans' disgust with our own government's never ending military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified because we are forced to pay for it and both parties, Republicans and Democrats, always keep the Washington military machine funded and going," she wrote. "This is what many in Maga thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong."

Another prominent Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, contrasted the legal justification for Maduro's arrest – on weapons and cocaine trafficking charges – with Trump's explanation that the operation was to reclaim confiscated US oil and stop fentanyl production.

Most Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, with House Speaker Mike Johnson describing the military action against a "criminal regime" as "decisive and justified".

During his press conference, the president said the Venezuelan operation advanced his "America First" priorities because it ensured US regional security and provided a steady source of oil.

He dusted off the Monroe Doctrine – an early 19th Century American foreign policy that asserted the Western Hemisphere should be free from influence by European powers – and rebranded it the "Donroe Doctrine".

The action in Venezuela, Trump said, shows that "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."

The goal of the new US national security strategy, he said, was to "protect commerce, territory and resources that are core to our national security". He branded the Western Hemisphere as America's "home region".

Trump's decision to capture Maduro will raise larger concerns of global politics, however, and American relations with the world's other major military powers.

The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement expressing shock and condemning what it said was a reckless attack on a sovereign nation.

During the Biden administration, the US offered similar condemnations of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Now the Trump administration is trying to broker a peace deal between those two nations – one that has frequently appeared to be more favourable to the Russian side.

Don Bacon, a centrist Republican congressman who is retiring at the end of this year, expressed concerned about the message Trump's actions might send.

"My main concern is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan.

Trump's Democratic critics were more direct.

"The United States should not be running other countries for any reason," said Brian Shatz of Hawaii, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "We should have learned by now not to get involved in endless wars and regime change missions that carry catastrophic consequences for Americans."

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who could become speaker of the House if Democrats take back the chamber after November's midterm elections, said Maduro is a criminal and a dictator with a record of human rights abuses. But he condemned Trump's decision not to consult with legislative leaders prior to launching the attack.

"Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to follow the law and protect democratic norms in the United States," he said. "That is what putting America First requires."

Trump in his press conference said that he chose not to inform Congress because he was concerned they would "leak" details of the operation prior to the attack.

That military operation was a success – with no American deaths and limited damage to US equipment. Trump, with his typical bravado, described the operation as a "spectacular assault" and "one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competency in American history".

Now he is staking his presidency on that success continuing, as the US says it will take over running and rebuilding Venezuela - though what that actually means we don't know. He and his team 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 foreign policy has in store for them. (BBC)

Update news