Donald Trump has said very little about conditions in Nigeria in recent months, though that changed Friday afternoon. The president, pointing to attacks against the nation’s Christian population, announced via his social media platform that he was labeling the African country a “country of particular concern.”
He added that he wanted a couple of congressional Republicans to “immediately look into this matter” and report back to him. (Why Trump wouldn’t assign such a task to his own State Department or intelligence agencies is unclear.)
One day later, the American president went considerably further. NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump on Saturday said he has instructed the Defense Department to ‘prepare for possible action’ in Nigeria over the country’s alleged killing of Christians. ‘If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, “guns-a-blazing,” to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,’ Trump wrote on social media.”
The Republican added that a U.S. military offensive would be “fast, vicious, and sweet.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth replied to Trump’s post with a “Yes sir.”
A day later, the president fielded a few questions from reporters aboard Air Force One and again raised the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Nigeria.
I won’t pretend to know what, if anything, will come of these threats, but as the story develops, it’s worth appreciating just how long Trump’s international target list has become:
Venezuela: Trump’s recent saber-rattling toward Venezuela has been quite aggressive, including a recent all-caps warning about the South American country paying an “incalculable” price. After the U.S. flew Air Force B-1 bombers near Venezuela two weeks ago, the president also deployed the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier group to Latin America. During his “60 Minutes” interview, Trump said he doesn’t expect a war with Venezuela, but he didn’t rule out the possibility of military strikes.
Colombia: Tensions between the U.S. and Colombia have risen in recent weeks, including an instance in which Trump accused Colombian President Gustavo Petro of being an “illegal drug leader.”
International waters: Late Saturday, Hegseth claimed that U.S. forces had carried out yet another a strike on a civilian boat in international waters, killing all three people on board. According to the administration’s tally, this was the 15th such military operation, which have collectively resulted in 64 deaths. (Trump’s Pentagon has admitted to lawmakers that it doesn’t know the identities of the people killed in the strikes.)
Afghanistan: Trump has spoken publicly in recent weeks about possibly returning U.S. troops to Afghanistan, apparently because the White House wants to reclaim control over Bagram Air Base.
Mexico: According to a new NBC News report, the Trump administration “has begun detailed planning for a new mission to send American troops and intelligence officers into Mexico to target drug cartels.” The report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC, added that the mission, if it happens, “would include ground operations inside Mexico.”
For context, Trump has also launched preemptive military strikes on targets in Iran, initiated a bombing campaign in Yemen and announced his desire to annex Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal and the Gaza Strip all in the last year.
If you voted for Trump because you expected restraint on foreign policy and the use of military force abroad, I have some bad news.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
