from the american-exceptionalism dept
Be the Duterte you want to see in the world, I guess.
That’s the new line from Donald Trump, the guy who once told supporters he could personally commit murder and he wouldn’t lose any supporters. He said that last time. He’s president again, so apparently it’s time to see if this adage holds up.
Trump has already pretended the mere existence of foreign gang members anywhere in the world justifies whatever actions he chooses to take under the heading of “immigration enforcement.” That includes sending people to countries they’ve never lived in or back to countries they fled from for fear of getting tortured or killed. All of this has been greeted with shrug from a man with an ill-fitting jacket and head full of hate.
In recent weeks, things have escalated. Trump is pretending the mere existence of a worldwide drug trade is a combination of undeclared war on the United States and an ongoing act of terrorism. So, we’ve just started committing extrajudicial killings in international waters and expecting DOJ/DoD lawyers to work out the legal details after the fact.
A few legislators have started to speak up about this, suggesting that, at the very least, Trump should approach Congress to secure a declaration of war to justify these… well, let’s call them what they are: murders. Even though he’s got a majority working for him, Trump doesn’t want to do this. He’d rather just do whatever he wants and let everyone else deal with the consequences.
Trump has never been the most coherent or erudite of orators. And that’s what gives statements like these an extra edge: the boorish, almost-bored vow to commit murder spilling out of the mouth of the nation’s largest single-cell organism.
Here’s what Trump said, in case you can’t see the embed:
Trump: “I don’t think we’re necessarily going to ask for a declaration of war, I think we’re just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. We’re going to kill them. They’re going to be, like dead.”
That is chilling. There’s literally no precedent for that in this country. And he’s not just talking about the nearly daily sinking of boats Trump and Hegseth claim (without evidence) are filled with drugs and drug dealers. He’s talking about what’s in the works, which appears to be a land invasion of Venezuela and Colombia.
That’s the sort of thing that usually requires a declaration of war. But, of course, Republican presidents in particular have tended to feel congressional involvement isn’t necessarily needed. George Bush invaded Panama to take down Manuel Noriega. Ronald Reagan did the same thing in Grenada. And the less said about the forever war on terror, the better, because I’d hate to see what’s being discussed now turn into decades of misery for everyone involved.
This is horrific and it should have been immediately greeted by a deafening uproar by Democratic leaders. It should have been rejected out of hand by members of Trump’s own party. Instead, it has just become another part of the background noise that is the Trump administration grinding its way towards its authoritarian goals.
Filed Under: defense department, donald trump, drug dealers, drug war, extrajudicial killings, murder, trump administration, venezuela
