Vice President JD Vance has a clashed between Republicans after declaring he “doesn’t give a s***” if people believe the administration’s strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean amounted to a war crime.
The controversy began on Saturday when the VP wrote “Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military” on X, after the deadly September 2 assault on a speedboat allegedly carrying members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragau gang.
When left-leaning commentator Brian Krassenstein suggested the administration’s actions met the criteria for a war crime, the VP responded angrily: “I don’t give a s*** what you call it.”
Donald Trump’s deputy was then angrily rebuked by a member of his own party, Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul, who was outraged by his post.
“JD ‘I don’t give a s***’ Vance says killing people he accuses of a crime is the ‘highest and best use of the military,” an indignant Sen. Paul wrote.
“Did he ever read To Kill a Mockingbird? Did he ever wonder what might happen if the accused were immediately executed without trial or representation?? What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial.”
Paul was in turn attacked in turn by Ohio Republican Rep. Bernie Moreno, a MAGA cheerleader, who leapt to Vance’s defense saying: “What’s really despicable is defending foreign terrorist drug traffickers who are *directly* responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans in Kentucky and Ohio.
“JD understands that our first responsibility is to protect the life and liberty of American citizens.”
Vance received further criticism from the evangelical Christian community, with author Shane Clairborn commenting: “The first word in JD Vance’s bio is ‘Christian.’ The word Christian means ‘Christ-like.’ And yet the rhetoric and policies of this administration betray the most fundamental teachings of Christ.
“Many Christians will defend this. And folks like [Pastor] Franklin Graham will be more offended that Vance cussed, than that he is killing people. Nevertheless, as Christians and people of conscience we cannot be silent.”
The administration remains under pressure from Capitol Hill and beyond to explain the rationale behind the operation that killed 11 people and has pointed to its designation of Tren de Aragua a “foreign terrorist organization” as justification while releasing only minimal details about the incident in question.
“The strike was fully consistent with the law of armed conflict,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement.
“The strike was the obvious result of designating them a terrorist organization,” a Pentagon insider told CNN. “If there was a boat full of al-Qaeda fighters smuggling explosives towards the U.S., would anyone even ask this question?”
The president does have the right under Article II of the Constitution to use military force if he believes doing so is in the national interest, although the condition is vague and open to interpretation. The U.S. was explicitly at war with al-Qaeda, as declared by Congress, during the War on Terror so the parallel offered is not an exact one.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has maintained that U.S. officials were certain that members of Tren de Aragua were aboard the boat at the time and intended to “poison” U.S. citizens with their cargo of drugs.
“We’ve got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships, because this is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won’t stop with just this strike,” Hegseth told Fox & Friends.
“Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate.”
Trump himself claimed on Friday the alleged traffickers were “operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro,” prompting the Venezuelan president to condemn the strike and urge Washington to engage in respectful dialogue with his country instead.
