Common sense might suggest that Donald Trump would exercise at least some restraint in the aftermath of his recent military strike on civilian boat in international waters, which killed 11 people. The president and his team have since confronted some difficult questions, including whether the strike was legal — a question the White House has struggled to answer.
Asked Monday whether he ever intended to provide any evidence to support his claims about the boat’s crew and its contents, the Republican said, “Well, we have proof. All you have to do is look at the cargo that was, like, it spattered all over the ocean, big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place.”
Except, of course, seeing the remains of a boat destroyed by a military strike is a fry cry from actual evidence. For that matter, even if there were “big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place,” there are standard procedures that apply when U.S. officials suspect a boat of carrying drugs, which involve stopping and searching the vessel, seizing actual drugs and arresting and questioning those on board.
Two weeks ago, however, the Trump administration, for reasons that have not yet been explained, did not follow standard procedures when it saw a boat with suspected Venezuelan drug smugglers.
And then it did it again. NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. military had carried out a strike on a second Venezuelan boat, alleging that the ship was helmed by ‘narcoterrorists’ and carrying ‘illegal narcotics’ headed to the United States. Trump said the strike killed three people, whom he called ‘male terrorists,’ and that no U.S. forces were harmed.
While boasting about the operation, Trump told reporters that U.S. officials are seeing “no boats” in the ocean, adding, “Probably stopping some fishermen, too. I mean, to be honest, if I were a fisherman, I wouldn’t want to go fishing, either. … I’d say, ‘Man, maybe they think I have drugs downstairs, I don’t want that.’ I think the fishing business has probably been hurt.”
It wasn’t altogether clear whether this was some kind of attempt at humor. However, there’s nothing funny about the controversy: The president, apparently having given up on his quest for a Nobel Peace Prize, is facing accusations that he’s ordered extrajudicial executions in international waters without authorization from Congress. Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement, “President Trump’s actions are an outrageous violation of the law and a dangerous assault on our Constitution. No president can secretly wage war or carry out unjustified killings — that is authoritarianism, not democracy. “These reckless, unauthorized operations not only put American lives at risk, they threaten to ignite a war with Venezuela that would drag our nation into a conflict we did not choose. The American people deserve to know what is being done in their name and why. Congress must demand answers, force transparency, and hold this administration accountable before it plunges us into another needless war.” The next morning, Trump told reporters that U.S. naval forces in the Caribbean have now “knocked off” a third boat, though it’s not yet clear whether that’s true. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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