Trump’s Killing Spree Isn’t Stopping the Flow of Drugs Into the U.S.

2026-05-04 18:30 UTC

The Pentagon claims that attacks on civilian boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific have severely curtailed the import of illegal drugs to the United States. And President Donald Trump says this has saved more than 1 million American lives. Experts call these assertions laughable and reporting by The Intercept shows that claims by the White House and War Department are baseless, phony, or both. “The administration has failed to explain the long-term objectives of this mission or provide any evidence of reduced drug flows into the United States,” Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee said about the campaign on Thursday. “I would ask for a credible answer to this most fundamental question: What is the operation actually meant to accomplish?” Experts in the laws of war, as well as members of Congress from both parties, say the strikes are illegal, extrajudicial killings because the military is not permitted to deliberately target civilians — even suspected criminals — who do not pose an imminent threat of violence. These summary killings are a deviation from the standard practice in the long-running U.S. war on drugs, in which law enforcement agencies generally detained suspected drug smugglers and brought them to trial on criminal charges.

Replies (16)

@LePoisson@lemmy.world 2026-05-04 19:26

>what is the operation actually meant to accomplish. Test the waters for what officers and enlisted men will not follow an unlawful orders. Or the other way, make sure that the people will follow orders they should not. I genuinely think that's what it's for. Testing the waters (if you'll pardon the pun) for pushback over what I would say is pretty blatant violation of international law and overall norms our Navy has abided for decades now regarding how we do or do not intercept and interact with these "drug boats". I would argue it's pretty wrong and fucked up just on the face of it to straight murder people for drug trafficking and it still is against the law. Not that we seem to care anymore. Even in some contrived scenario where they were flying a flag that said "cocaine on board for sure" and the dudes driving the boat all were clearly cracked out and swore they were gonna sell them off to someone in the USA - it still would be inhumane and improper to do what we are. I'll tell you one thing for sure, any sort of good will agreements or help we may have gotten from partners in South America is gone now. If the goal *was* to lessen the amount of drug use in the USA, hell even if it was simply to try to slow and control the supply - this is yielding the opposite result.

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@Bloefz@lemmy.world 2026-05-04 22:04

Has the goal of the war on drugs ever really been to eliminate drugs? I think it's always been more of a pork barrel and geopolitical show. Because if you want to portray yourself as a hero saviour you're going to need an enemy everyone else hates too. Of course Trump dialled it all to 11 just like he does with everything.

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@D_C@sh.itjust.works 2026-05-05 12:53

The most important thing is that the orange child rapist gets his jollies off by murdering people. The ineffective drug thingy stuff is fluff.

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@Lemminary@lemmy.world 2026-05-05 09:04

It's not meant to stop the drugs. It's meant to stop people from asking about the Trumpstein files.

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@EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 2026-05-05 02:18

Why would cutting funding to USAid stop the flow of drugs into the US? Why would bombing schools in Iran stop the flow of drugs into the US? Oh, the *other* killing spree.

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@theuniqueone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-05-05 15:15

It would be beyond silly to expect it to and that was never the motive.

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@finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world 2026-05-05 07:58

Yeah, but each murder gave Hegseth's whisky dick a semi, so he figures it's worth it.

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@Elilol@fedinsfw.app 2026-05-04 19:06

WHAT!? Something Trump is doing ISNT having the predicted/promised outcome? How could this be possible, its as if he was incompetent :O

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@Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 2026-05-05 00:40

It's almost as if most illegal drugs are stashed in cargo containers at every point of access, and we can't possibly stop even a tiny fraction without also stopping international trade dead in its tracks. Oh well, guess we should murder some more people to stop other people from getting high off of opiates or cocaine, our hands are tied. No worries. Surely, increasing danger from fighting this international trade won't encourage chemical engineers from continuing to produce even more and more deadly alternatives locally! We are so smart we stopped those darn opium dens we win drug war.

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@resipsaloquitur@lemmy.cafe 2026-05-04 19:38

Better explode even more fishermen.

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@Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2026-05-05 07:40

arnt they flowing through mexico border by land. and he isnt even targeting the cartels, just some easy targets.

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@Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca 2026-05-04 21:05

If there is any rationale other than the "we are the USA, we can do whatever we want, whenever we want, for no reason at all", I would be surprised.

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@Grimy@lemmy.world 2026-05-04 20:47

Tbh, I just figured they were beating down on one cartel so the CIA owned one can flourish? That or extortion (you pay or your boat gets sunk).

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@absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 2026-05-04 21:52

So what you are saying is; Drugs continue to win the war on drugs.

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@sircac@lemmy.world 2026-05-05 08:11

I am pretty sure that he is just favouring friends handling their competition...

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@mechoman444@lemmy.world 2026-05-05 05:55

What! No way! You're saying that drug dealers are going to find ways to sell drugs in America. Holy crap who'd have thunk it!

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