The Senate has spoken, and the message is clear: President Trump’s military campaign against drug trafficking in the Caribbean will continue.
In a vote that fell largely along party lines, Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic effort to strip the president of his authority to conduct strikes against alleged Venezuelan drug boats. The resolution, spearheaded by Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, would have halted ongoing operations that the Trump administration maintains are essential to stemming the flow of narcotics into American communities.
This is about more than parliamentary procedure or constitutional debate. This is about whether America will stand firm against the cartels that have turned our southern border into a war zone and our streets into killing fields.
The resolution came to a head after Trump signaled his willingness to authorize strikes on Venezuelan soil itself, raising the stakes considerably. Kaine, joined by Senator Adam Schiff of California and Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, argued that such military action requires explicit congressional authorization. They contend that strikes on the water and potential ground intervention represent the kind of hostilities that demand a full debate and vote by the people’s representatives.
The president has been forthright about his reasoning. Venezuela, he noted, has “emptied their prisons into the United States of America.” The connection between that policy and the surge in violent crime is not difficult to trace. Add to that the steady stream of drugs flowing from Venezuelan waters, and you have a national security crisis that demands action, not endless deliberation.
“We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea,” Trump stated plainly. “So, you get to see that, but we’re going to stop them by land also.”
The vote revealed some interesting fault lines. Senator Paul, true to his non-interventionist principles, broke with his party to support the resolution. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also voted to limit Trump’s authority, marking her second defection on this issue this month. But the Republican majority held firm.
The backdrop to this debate makes it all the more urgent. A Mexican mayor was recently executed publicly by cartel members, a brutal reminder that these are not mere criminals but paramilitary organizations that control territory and murder with impunity. The cartels have grown so powerful that they challenge the sovereignty of nations.
The question before the Senate was never really about constitutional niceties. It was about whether America would continue to take the fight to the traffickers or return to the old pattern of treating drug interdiction as a law enforcement problem rather than the national security threat it has become.
Trump has made his choice. He has unleashed American military power against the cartels in ways previous administrations avoided. The CIA operations he authorized represent a significant escalation, one that carries risks but also the potential to disrupt networks that have operated with near impunity for decades.
The Senate’s vote means those operations will continue. Whether this approach ultimately succeeds in reducing the flow of drugs and criminal aliens into America remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: the old ways were not working, and the American people voted for change.
The cartels should take note. This president means business, and the Senate just gave him the green light to prove it.
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