Trump Announces Another Suspicious Strike on Alleged “Drug Boat”

President Donald Trump announced Monday that he’d made yet another deadly (and potentially extrajudicial) military strike against a vessel of suspected drug traffickers.

“This morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday afternoon.

“The Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) headed to the U.S,” Trump wrote. These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to U.S. National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital U.S. Interests.”

“BE WARNED—IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU!” Trump warned. “The illicit activities by these cartels have wrought DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES ON AMERICAN COMMUNITIES FOR DECADES, killing millions of American Citizens. NO LONGER.”

Trump claimed that the three “narcoterrorists” killed in the strike had been Venezuelan, but did not say what criminal cartel they were allegedly affiliated with. The president also included a strangely edited “unclassified” video of the vessel being struck and exploding into fire and smoke.

It’s unclear how many missiles were fired, or whether anything else was struck.

While speaking to reporters Sunday, Trump wouldn’t say whether he had plans to strike mainland Venezuela, after promising a broadening campaign against Venezuelan cartels in the aftermath of an initial deadly strike earlier this month. The Trump administration has been widely criticized for violating domestic and international law by carrying out a military strike without proper legal authority.

Trump apparently misses his hunting license, and has once again used the U.S. military to serve as judge, jury, and executioner for those accused of trafficking drugs.

Crucially, Trump has been less than forthcoming about details of the previous strike. Trump officials switched up details about where the boat was headed, and while the president claims that the strike was an act of “self defense,” the boat had reportedly turned around by the time it was fired upon and struck multiple times.

Senator Rand Paul also revealed last week that the previous strike was carried out by drone, a blatant violation of the rules of engagement. It is possible that may have been the case again, as Trump noted that no U.S. forces were harmed during the latest operation.

Vice President JD Vance on Monday claimed it’s a “statistical fact” that the left commits more political violence.

“And while our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies, it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics on American politics today are proud members of the far left,” Vance said, while signing off on Charlie Kirk’s memorial podcast, which he hosted from the White House.

Vance’s statement is one of many incendiary assertions from the right that frame Kirk’s assassination as a sign of general left-wing extremism that ought to be destroyed, even as the suspect’s motives and politics remain unclear.

Moreover, Vance’s statement is not a “statistical fact.”

One study published by the libertarian Cato Institute found that since 2020, right-wingers have accounted for over half of terror-related deaths in the United States, with left-wingers at 22 percent. Another study from the Public Religion Research Institute found that those who were more opposed to Trump were more likely to oppose political violence as well.

“​​It is not a statistical fact at all,” podcaster Jon Favreau wrote on X. “I wouldn’t make an assertion like that about the right without evidence, and I’m just a podcaster not the Vice President of the United States. Incredibly irresponsible.”

There are countless examples of right-wing political violence that Vance, Trump, and many others on the right are simply gaslighting the public about at this point. From January 6 to the assassination of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, to the school shooting that happened in Colorado the same day Charlie Kirk was killed, the right seems fully committed to pushing this lie.

Vice President JD Vance on Monday urged his supporters to snitch on workers who make offensive remarks about the late MAGA provocateur and podcaster Charlie Kirk.

In recent days, an error-ridden doxing campaign, led by right-wing figures like Trump ally Laura Loomer and Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok, began targeting people accused of publishing unsavory posts online about Kirk following his fatal shooting last week.

The vice president endorsed this censorial campaign as the guest host of Monday’s episode of The Charlie Kirk Show.

“When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out, and, hell, call their employer,” the vice president urged his listeners. “We don’t believe in political violence, but we do believe in civility. And there is no civility in the celebration of political assassination.”

The campaign Vance effectively co-signed has already caused innumerable people to be doxed, threatened, and professionally punished or fired for their speech—including many who were simply critical of Kirk’s often extreme views and some who were accused of glorifying his death despite having never commented on the matter at all.

Earlier in the broadcast, Vance had on White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who condemned “organized doxing campaigns” against conservatives, which he claimed were part of a supposed “organized campaign that led to [Kirk’s] assassination.”

MAGA has undertaken a doxing spree in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death, targeting social media users who belittle the far right-wing activist—and even some who didn’t.

Taylor Lorenz’s User Mag reported Monday that an I.T. technician at Walmart had been wrongly linked to a social media account by doxers.

Ali Nasrati, 30, said he hadn’t posted anything about Kirk but was still publicly doxed over an account using his name and photograph that made posts mocking the right-wing activist, User Mag reported. This set off a tidal wave of threatening messages and phone calls, sending his mother and sister fleeing from their home and resulting in Nasrati getting suspended (with pay) from his job.

Other instances of doxing appear to have been prompted by unverified information. Ryan Fournier, the national chair of Students for Trump, was forced to walk back accusations of anti-Kirk comments against an elementary school teacher in Wisconsin. “Moving forward, we ask that all tips include as many details as possible—along with screenshots and supporting evidence. We must continue exposing individuals mocking Charlie Kirk’s death, but accuracy is critical,” he wrote on X.

On Sunday night, an anonymous website collecting reports of anti-Kirk “political extremism” said it had received more than 63,000 submissions. A disclaimer on the website, originally named “Expose Charlie’s Murderers” but rebranded Monday as the “Charlie Kirk Data Foundation,” claimed that it was “not a doxxing website.”

“We lawfully collect publicly-available data to analyze the prominence of support for political violence in the interest of public education,” the statement said. “We do not publish data which identifies individuals.”

Wired previously reported that the operators of Charlie’s Murderers were collecting reports of social media users celebrating or mocking Kirk’s death, and revealing their personal information.

To be clear, one doesn’t need to have mocked Kirk to land on the doxers’ list of offenders. All you need to do is acknowledge Kirk’s actual politics, and his legacy as a far-right Christian nationalist with a history of making racist, misogynist, and homophobic remarks.

“When they call Charlie Kirk a ‘Nazi’ or a ‘White Nationalist’ they mean all 77 million Americans who voted for Trump. They mean you,” the Charlie Kirk Data Foundation posted on X. “They think there’s a moral duty to kill these ‘Nazis.’ That means they want to kill you the same way they killed Charlie. Never forget that.”

Other far-right influencers posting people’s personal information on the internet include Laura Loomer and Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok. “THIS IS WAR,” Raichik declared Wednesday afternoon, before any authorities had any information about the identity of the alleged shooter.

If memes are any indication, the right-wing movement to oust private citizens over their remarks about Kirk may have been democratized. “Waiting for your arch nemesis at work to tweet something negative about Charlie Kirk so you can report them to HR and get them fired,” was the caption to one meme on Instagram shared by two popular meme accounts.

The Trump administration has spent at least $56,000 so far on Orwellian banners displayed on government buildings, according to a report from Democratic Senator Adam Schiff published by MeidasTouch Network.

In August, Trump’s Department of Labor unfurled a giant banner on its headquarters’ facade, featuring the words “American Workers First” and Trump’s glowering second inaugural portrait. Alongside the president’s banner was one depicting Theodore Roosevelt with the same motto. In the spring, Trump’s visage similarly appeared on a banner beside one of Abraham Lincoln on the Department of Agriculture’s building.

An oversight report by Schiff reveals that the Department of Health and Human Services also plans to exhibit political banners on its exterior. The Trump administration has awarded a contract for two “Make America Healthy Again Building Banners” at HHS headquarters, which are yet to be unveiled. Per contracting documents, the signs are to measure 11 feet by 88 feet and be made to last “preferably” the length of Trump’s term. While they will feature “different artwork,” the images are not detailed in the report—but if history is any indication, one of them can be expected to depict the president scowling.

Between all three reported banner orders, the Trump administration has dished out about $56,000 in taxpayer money. The USDA banners cost $16,400, the HHS banners $33,726, and the Labor Department banners about $6,000—though, Schiff notes, the full cost is “yet to be determined.”

According to Schiff, the banners could run afoul of federal appropriations laws that bar the spending of funds for “publicity or propaganda purposes.” Either way, as the senator notes, they serve as “a stark visual manifestation of measures President Trump and his administration are taking to consolidate power and control that are antithetical to American democracy.”