Donald Trump has made a dramatic show of making America’s military blow up purported drug boats off the coast of Venezuela, hundreds of miles from American soil. So far, Trump has amassed a body count of 32, who he claims, without evidence, are “narco-terrorists.” He has failed to reveal the identity of the boat crews, what their destination was or why the Coast Guard couldn’t simply have performed its regular task of interdicting and searching the boats to confirm they were carrying illicit drugs.
Trump has publicly claimed the boats were carrying fentanyl, when almost all of that drug is widely known to be transported across the U.S. border with Mexico. Over 90% of fentanyl seizures in the last five years have come from Mexico.
Obliterating the boats is a stupid tactic because it destroys the evidence and does not allow for interrogation of the suspects. Dead suspects cannot disclose valuable intelligence to use in going after the drug kingpins. The tactic violates U.S. law because Trump has not gotten congressional approval to use lethal force against the suspects, having failed to show they pose an imminent threat to the U.S.
The boat attacks also violate rules of international law that top U.S. military lawyers have urged the services to observe. With its scofflaw attitude, the Trump regime has tarnished the reputation of the United States as a beacon for the rule of law. We became the most powerful nation on Earth because of our dedication to lawful conduct. When we repeatedly demonstrate that the U.S. will not follow U.S. and international law, our reputation, trading relations and economy will suffer.
Soon after taking office as Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth fired the top Judge Advocate Generals (JAGs) of the military services. He called them “roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief.” He likely understood that Trump had no intention of complying with established laws governing the use of the nation’s military.
He was obviously correct, but unaware of our first commander in chief’s view of the role of a JAG officer. George Washington appointed the first JAG shortly after taking command of the Continental Army. He wrote that “an Army without Order, Regularity & Discipline, is no better than a Commission’d Mob.”
Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, speaks during a confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)Trump’s killing of purported drug traffickers would not pass muster with a reputable JAG officer. However, Trump has plenty of loyal sycophants who will risk their legal reputations to justify his unlawful actions. Our own U.S. Sen. Jim Risch is just such a Trump puppet. Risch took to the Senate floor to prostrate himself at Trump’s feet, claiming that the boats were conducting “an actual attack” on the U.S., even though they were about 1,000 miles from Miami. Without offering a hint of proof, he branded them as “terrorists.”
Neither Trump nor Risch realizes that they are placing military officers charged with carrying out the killings in an untenable position. Strikes like these should be reviewed and approved by a competent and independent JAG officer. If these strikes are unlawful, as they certainly appear to be, service personnel pulling the trigger could later face court martial charges for obeying an unlawful order.
Of great interest in this regard is the surprising and sudden decision of Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander in charge of the boat destructions, to announce his retirement after less than a year as the commander of U.S. Southern Command. More retirements may be in the offing. Another top officer, Col. Doug Krugman, resigned this month because of Trump’s obvious contempt for the Constitution.
Neither Risch nor Trump served in the military – Trump because of phantom bone spurs and Risch because of “an ulcer” — so they are likely unaware that soldiers are legally and honorably prohibited from giving or following an unlawful order. As an artillery spotter in Vietnam, I was fully aware of the real possibility of a court martial for killing non-threatening civilians, even in an actual wartime setting. Common human decency says you don’t gleefully announce the killing of suspects who could easily be arrested.
In the final analysis, Trump’s repeated killings in the Caribbean are more performance art than military necessity. If he was really interested in pursuing drug kingpins, he would not have diverted hundreds of prosecutors and drug enforcement agents from going after the drug networks. Trump has them wasting their talents on immigration cases. An exhaustive report from Reuters found that drug prosecutions have fallen to the “lowest level in decades” under Trump. Furthermore, Trump has been uncommonly generous in handing out pardons and clemency to drug kingpins.
Perhaps it’s time for him to stop breaking the law and start enforcing it.