This week, a rather dramatic video was shared of a strike that was ordered against an alleged cartel speedboat carrying drugs.
Trump acknowledged ordering the hit, then he was accused of violating international laws as well as spreading a fake video.
Trump loved all the attention and gloated over the strike.
First, let’s get into the legal aspect of this, and in order to do that, we have to go to January 20, 2025, order by Trump designating cartels as terrorist organizations.
The order, in part, stated, “This order creates a process by which certain international cartels (the Cartels) and other organizations will be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, consistent with section 219 of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1189), or Specially Designated Global Terrorists, consistent with IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702) and Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001 (Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten to Commit, or Support Terrorism), as amended.”
After the strike, the talking heads could not accuse Trump of violating international law fast enough, but that designation by Trump gives him fairly wide latitude in how he can order strikes.
Article II declares the sitting president as the Commander in Chief, giving him the authority to order military strikes against military targets, and terrorist organizations are military targets. I know this will be litigated, but I am 100% behind changing this game to stop cartels from bringing drugs into this country.
After the strike, of which Trump posted the video, Freddy Nanez, Venezuela’s communications minister, claimed it was all fake news.
Trump posted, “Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE! Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!!!!!!”
The minister said the video looked cartoonish, responding, “The video shows a ship being attacked and then exploding in a way that looks like a simplified, almost cartoonish animation, rather than a realistic depiction of an explosion.”
Reuters investigated the video and found no manipulation. As of now, the video stands as authentic.
When Trump broke the news of the attack, he could not have been prouder, telling the media, "Over the last few minutes, [we] literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat.
"A lot of drugs in that boat. And you'll be seeing that, and you'll be reading about that. It just happened moments ago."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed the play, stating, "The President has been very clear that he's going to use the full power of America and the full might of the United States to take on and eradicate these drug cartels, no matter where they're operating from and no matter how long they've been able to act with impunity. Those days are over."
I have no problem calling out Trump when I think he is wrong, but I love this, as I stated earlier in the report. And I would bet our special forces operators are frothing at the mouth over the opportunity to go after these guys openly (I am sure we have been conducting black ops for years – my opinion). The rules have changed, and I am all for it.
