U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during the White House Faith Office Luncheon at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
Fox News pundit Andy McCarthy is alarmed at President Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to declare war on drug cartels, saying this move is dangerously unconstitutional, according to his column in The National Review.
On Thursday, Trump made a sweeping declaration "in a confidential notice to Congress," saying the United States is in an “armed conflict” with cartels. Trump's notice followed his administration's decision to launch missile strikes on boats in the Caribbean, claiming the targers were carrying drugs, reports The New York Times.
McCarthy objected to both the strikes and the declaration, saying "The Framers did not intend to endow in the president the power that President Trump is claiming. We have reached a point at which the president believes he can use force whenever he sees fit for whatever serves the national interest as he sees it."
McCarthy also notes that by claiming this power, Trump is minimizing Congress's role, too. “Congress, rather than being asked for authorization, is reduced to using its powers to curtail military operations if it objects," he says.
McCarthy says this is exceedingly dangerous and that Trump's designation "most notably has been applied to al-Qaeda. Yet, the differences in that situation and today’s involving the cartels are stark."
"This week’s Trump administration notice to Congress does not identify the cartels to which it applies. It does not say the cartels have engaged in actual hostilities against the United States," Mc Carthy explains.
"Rather, it reportedly claims President Trump has “determined” that the drug smuggling actions of the cartels “constitute an armed attack against the United States.”
McCarthy says what Trump is doing is "wrong" and the antithesis of what the Framers of the Constitution had in mind.
“That is not the system we were bequeathed, but it is the system we now have. It’s a dangerous system — and I say that as one who has long held that the president must have robust authority to use military force without congressional assent if our nation and its vital interests are truly threatened,” McCarthy concluded.
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