President Donald Trump appeared to have a little fun with his growing foreign policy résumé Sunday night, posting what looked like a mock update to his own credentials following last week’s dramatic U.S. operation in Venezuela.
Just after 8 p.m. ET, Trump shared a screenshot to Truth Social that resembled his Wikipedia page. Beneath his official presidential photograph was a tongue-in-cheek new title: “Acting President of Venezuela.” The post came without comment, but its timing made the message clear.
The joke followed a high-stakes U.S. military operation ordered by Trump a little more than a week earlier. That operation, carried out by Delta Force, resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, a move that stunned observers and marked one of the most aggressive U.S. actions in the region in decades.
In the aftermath of Maduro’s removal, his vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, assumed the role of acting president inside Venezuela. Trump’s social media post appeared to play off that development, highlighting the outsized role the United States is now playing in the country’s future and Trump’s own central involvement in reshaping it.
Trump has made clear that he views the Venezuela operation as only the beginning of a broader effort. In an interview last week with Fox News host Sean Hannity, the president said elections would eventually be held in the South American nation, but not before the country’s critical energy sector is rebuilt.
“We’re gonna rebuild the oil and the oil infrastructure,” Trump told Hannity, signaling that restoring Venezuela’s vast oil capacity is a top priority before any political transition is finalized.
That emphasis on energy has been a consistent theme of Trump’s approach. The president has repeatedly argued that Venezuela’s oil wealth was squandered under socialist rule and that American expertise is needed to revive production, stabilize the economy, and create conditions for long-term political reform.
Trump later revealed that he had quietly tipped off major oil companies about his plans for Venezuela before the Delta Force operation was launched. That disclosure underscored how central energy strategy was to the broader mission and suggested the administration had been planning the economic phase of the operation well in advance.
The president’s playful Truth Social post fits a familiar Trump pattern: using humor and provocation to draw attention while reinforcing a serious underlying message. In this case, the message was that the United States, under Trump’s leadership, is now firmly in the driver’s seat when it comes to Venezuela’s future.
While critics have bristled at Trump’s blunt style, supporters see the moment as emblematic of his confidence and willingness to take decisive action where previous administrations hesitated. The capture of Maduro, followed by open talk of rebuilding Venezuela’s oil infrastructure and eventually restoring elections, has been framed by Trump allies as a major geopolitical win.
The faux “resume update” also served as a reminder of how rapidly events have moved. Just weeks ago, Maduro remained entrenched in power. Now, Trump is publicly joking about overseeing Venezuela’s transition, even as his administration lays out concrete plans for economic reconstruction.
Whether taken as humor, bravado, or political messaging, Trump’s post capped off a week that reshaped U.S.–Venezuela relations and reinforced the president’s image as a leader eager to showcase results. In typical Trump fashion, even a joke doubled as a statement: America is back in charge, and Trump wants everyone to know it.
