President Trump did exactly what the soft-on-crime politicians and open-border elites refuse to do: he told Congress that the United States is in a non-international “armed conflict” with transnational drug cartels and is using the full authority of the Defense Department to protect American lives. This is not grandstanding — it is a legal notice required after military operations and a clear message that the federal government will defend its citizens from narco-terrorists.
This administration’s determination follows hard, necessary action in the Caribbean, where U.S. forces struck vessels tied to cartel activity, a campaign that tragically resulted in the deaths of those operating the smuggling routes that flood our streets with poison. The hard truth is painful: cartel networks are not quaint criminal enterprises but deadly, organized forces that profit from killing Americans through waves of fentanyl and other drugs.
The White House has labeled certain cartels as terrorist organizations and described members as “unlawful combatants,” a designation that finally recognizes the existential threat these criminals pose to our communities. Conservatives who want safety and order should applaud the clarity — if the left wants to keep pretending these are mere criminals instead of armed, transnational foes, ordinary Americans will keep paying with ruined lives.
Predictably, the usual suspects in the media and on the Hill are wringing their hands about war powers and legal technicalities, as if offering moral comfort to traffickers does anything to stop overdose deaths or the child victims of cartel violence. Congressional oversight is important, but so is the President’s duty to defend the nation — those who lecture about process while refusing to confront the problem are part of the problem.
Veteran national security voices like Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.) understand this reality and have consistently warned that dealing with transnational criminal enterprises requires both military strength and pragmatic strategy at the border. Keane’s years of service teach a simple lesson: when enemies operate across borders and use violence to destabilize our neighborhoods, America must be willing to act decisively to protect its citizens.
Congress has already been nudged into action by lawmakers who grasp that this crisis demands more than press releases and platitudes, with proposals on the table to give authorities clearer tools to go after violent cartels. Republicans who run for office promising to secure the country should follow through — the choice is between national security and the status quo of surrender.
Americans tired of seeing family and friends destroyed by illicit drugs should stand with a President who puts their safety first and rejects the feckless appeasement of left-wing critics and hostile foreign regimes. If Washington won’t do its job without pressure, then patriots must demand action: secure the border, dismantle the narco-terror networks, and stop pretending paperwork is a substitute for courage.
