One Senator shocked many in his own party this week by coming out swinging against a New York Times article that criticized President Trump for ordering the U.S. military to strike a Venezuelan drug-smuggling boat. Senator John Fetterman made it clear he is not buying the pearl-clutching from elite media outlets when it comes to Trump’s war on cartels.
“Overdosing takes 100,000+ American lives every year. Cartels wage this war against our nation everyday. Maybe it’s time for our nation to push back and hold the cartels fully accountable,” Fetterman posted on X. His statement was a direct rebuttal to the Times, which claimed Trump’s decision to destroy a boatload of smugglers had “no clear legal precedent.”
The Times piece, written by Charlie Savage, framed the action as lawless. Yet national security experts point out that the Venezuelan gang involved, Tren de Aragua, has been designated as a terrorist organization. Once that designation is in place, military action against its members is legally justified.
The smugglers reportedly received no warning from the Coast Guard, which is exactly what has critics howling. The Daily Wire noted that under previous administrations, drug traffickers typically faced little more than token detention, followed by NGOs rushing to secure their release. In this case, however, there was no time for activists or sympathetic judges to intervene. The boat was destroyed before it could unload millions of dollars’ worth of narcotics destined for American streets.
That swift action is precisely what has the Left in an uproar. They argue about “civil liberties” for foreign gangsters, while Americans bury sons and daughters who die from fentanyl overdoses. Conservative voices are praising the strike as a necessary step toward breaking the cycle of impunity that has allowed drug cartels to operate with near total freedom.
The political contrast could not be sharper. On one side, establishment Democrats and their media allies fret over international law. On the other, even a progressive senator like Fetterman is willing to acknowledge that America is in the middle of a drug war and must treat it like one. His willingness to cross party lines on this issue highlights how serious the cartel threat has become.
President Trump promised to treat cartels like the terrorists they are, and this latest strike shows he is following through. The fact that even Democrats like Fetterman are publicly backing that approach tells you just how much the ground is shifting.
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