Pirate's Cove

If only each and every Democrat could be asked the question

Democrats reveal whether they believe US citizens or drug boat traffickers are more important

As scrutiny mounts on the Trump administration’s use of force in its targeting of suspected cartel members in the Caribbean, lawmakers on Capitol Hill were asked whether they believe U.S. citizen victims or drug traffickers are more important.

Republicans, such as Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., said the answer is easy.

“I can’t speak for anybody else, but my top concern is American citizens, their lives, their health. So, for me, it’s an easy choice. Kill drug dealers, save Americans,” said Sheehy.

First, it’s not so much “drug dealers” as “foreign drug runners running drugs in international waters”, because I would be against whacking drug dealers here in the US on legal grounds. Second, I certainly understand that many GOP folks are against the blowing up of drug runner boats, just like many are against capital punishment. They have their reasons, and they’re usually well thought out, well reasoned, factual, and based on the Constitution. We’re going to have to disagree on that. But, when you get to Democrats

Democrats, however, had less black and white opinions on the strikes.

“Look, I fully support doing whatever we can within the legal means to make sure that we’re stopping drug trafficking,” said Rep. Johnny Olszewski, D-Md., adding, “We should absolutely be concerned about the victims of drug trafficking and people who have lost their lives to drug violence.”

“We support all efforts to [interdict], arrest, hold people accountable who are trying to smuggle drugs into this country. However, we have a rule of law, and we have rules of engagement for a reason. And so, we need to make sure that we have full transparency in terms of how these strikes are happening,” Olszewski went on.

He added that “if the reporting is true, it’s very likely” that the administration’s drug boat strikes are “in violation of our laws and may in fact be a war crime.”

Yeah, he keeps going on and on, when it really should be a simple answer. Nor does he offer what those laws are. It’s simply mealy-mouthed TDS. You can bet if it was Biden, or Kamala, doing this, most Dems would say nothing, just like when Obama was blowing people up in the Middle East and Africa, including a few American citizens.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., pushed back on the question, saying, “Is this going to do anything to truly help them?”

“Cocaine’s still flowing, the demand is still there,” Smith said, adding, “You see a drug dealer on the street, that’s a bad person. That person is selling drugs. Let’s say they’re selling actual fentanyl, not the cocaine that we’re hitting here. Would you support allowing anyone to execute that person who wants to on the spot? … You want to be tough on drug dealers. Drug dealers are bad people. Why do we need due process? Why do you need probable cause?”

Blah blah blah

Meanwhile, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., answered, “We have to do our best to disrupt drug distribution. Also, we have to invest in drug health care and drug education, et cetera. We have to do all the things. The real question is, how do you do it right?”

Pressed on whether the government should be prioritizing drug victims above the traffickers, Reed responded, “I’ve commented and thank you for asking,” before walking away.

If you’re a drug runner you’re a terrorist, and should be blown up, much in the way Thomas Jefferson went after the pirates of the Barbary Coast. Blowing the boats up (I wonder if this will move onto drug running airplanes?) is more about sending a message to future drug runners that “this could be you. Don’t do it.” There are certainly legalities for and against blowing the boats up, so, I guess it depends on your side. Instead of taking the time to interdict, putting Coast Guard and military members at risk, then arrest, then incarcerate, blowing a few up is a deterrent.

More:

(Washington Examiner) It is not a coincidence that the six congressional Democrats released a video urging active military members to “refuse illegal orders” just days before billboards saying the same thing went up outside of U.S. Southern Command in Florida and Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Nor is it a coincidence that just days after that, media outlets aligned with the Democratic Party falsely reported that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered Navy SEAL Team 6 to launch a second lethal strike on two “survivors” from a drug boat not totally demolished by an initial missile strike.

These events are not random. They are all part of a coordinated campaign by the Democratic Party and its media allies to undermine President Donald Trump, sow dissent, and divide the country. These are the same tactics we saw them deploy for the Russia collusion hoax, for the attempted destruction of Justice Brett Kavanaugh hoax, and for the Ukraine impeachment hoax.

The reality is that Trump’s military campaign against drug cartels in the Caribbean is overwhelmingly popular and is good policy. Somewhere between 60% and 70% of the public approves of Trump using military force against drug traffickers in the Caribbean, and Democrats are desperate to undermine this support. The fact that they put their political fortunes ahead of the interdiction of drugs that kill tens of thousands of their fellow citizens is telling as to their moral priorities.

It’s one thing to have a principled opposition to the strikes, it’s something entirely different because of unhinged politics and TDS. To take the side of foreign drug runners bringing drugs that kill Americans into the U.S.