“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Trump, and Hell followed with him.” Since the beginning of September, the Trump administration has begun launching airstrikes against boats in the Caribbean, which they insist are smuggling drugs to the United States.
37 people have been killed aboard these boats across nine attacks and, despite the Trump administration loudly insisting that they were all drug smugglers, none of them have been proven to involve actual drug cargo. You’d think some – any – proof would have been found by now, but nope. We’ve had no photos of seized narcotics, no independent lab tests, and no detailed cargo manifests.
If there were any proof, you can guarantee that the Trump administration would ensure it was plastered all over the media to support these attacks. Their complete inability to find anything suggests that they’re just murdering innocent people.
Two of the seven targeted vessels have been publicly identified as registered fishing boats with no proven drug cargo, and credible evidence suggests several others were also fishing or small commercial craft falsely labeled as “narco-boats.”
You might think using the immense might of the U.S. military to annihilate some Venezuelan fishermen might give even Trump pause, but apparently not. Doubtless believing his advisors’ insistence that they’re obliterating hardened narcos, he’s vowed to continue his campaign of death:
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." pic.twitter.com/55NQXpZ0jf
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 23, 2025
“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.”
It should also be pointed out that even if the people Trump is killing are drug smugglers (and we can only repeat there’s no evidence they are), that’s still evil! Yes, proven drug smugglers should be punished, but punished in accordance with the law, not simply extrajudicially executed.
The murders will continue until further notice
Trump’s homicidal tone here is an eerie echo of former President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte, who was also open about his ambitions to extrajudicially kill anyone involved in illegal drugs. As he said in 2016:
“Forget the laws on human rights. If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because I’d kill you.”
Huh, I wonder how ol’ Duterte is doing these days. Oh, what’s that, he’s been arrested for crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, and rape, and is being held at The Hague awaiting trial by the International Criminal Court?
We’d like to think a similar future awaits Trump and his bloodthirsty ilk, but somehow we doubt we’re living in a reality that has such a happy ending.
