Kentucky senator Rand Paul probably represents all the remaining brain cells in the GOP. But when a sitting senator starts comparing his own leader’s military actions to executions in China and Iran, it’s not hyperbole. It’s a warning now.
On Fox News Sunday, Paul once again did what no Republican dares to do anymore. While Donald Trump was busy congratulating himself for “decisive action” against alleged Venezuelan “drug boats,” Paul labeled it “extrajudicial killings.” And he simply said the truth out loud. “The Constitution says that when you go to war, Congress has to vote on it,” Paul explained.
“So far, they have alleged that these people are drug dealers. No one said their name. No one said what evidence. No one said whether they’re armed. At this point, I would call them extrajudicial killings. And this is akin to what China does, what Iran does. They summarily execute people without presenting evidence to the public. So it’s wrong.”
That’s not liberal hyperbole, but a Republican senator comparing his own president to China and Iran. The same man Trump once invited to golf, but labeled an “automatic no” later (via The Hill). The same man who was left off the guest list at the Rose Garden luncheon for not kneeling low enough. But Paul has said it loud and clear that he chooses his principles over worshiping Trump.
And the details of the strike Paul exposed on Fox were damning. Two boats, both bombed. One was reportedly a fishing vessel “in distress,” but the military bombed it instead of rescuing it. Two survivors were quietly shipped back to Colombia and Ecuador, no trial, no charges, no names. Paul asked, “If they were truly cartel operatives, where’s the evidence?”
“If they were drug dealers, why wouldn’t we prosecute them, present evidence of the drugs, show the arms they were about to invade us with, or show us something? Instead, they’re being sent back to Colombia and to Ecuador without a trial, and no one’s sort of trying to find out, well, who is the one behind this massive conspiracy to invade America with drugs.”
Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat, joined Rand Paul in rare bipartisan agreement. “If we’re going to be in a war, whether it’s against boats in Nicaragua chosen off a secret list the president won’t share with Congress, it should be done following a debate and a vote,” he said.
Meanwhile, Trump has framed the operations as a fight against “narco-terrorists.” But power without accountability isn’t justice. It’s tyranny in uniform. The MAGA tyrant is unilaterally deciding who lives and dies, outside any courtroom or congressional oversight. He’s not defending the Constitution, but dismantling it, one strike at a time.
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