Democrats are furious that President Donald Trump has sent U.S. military forces to sink at least five drug boats from Venezuela over the past few weeks.
I would imagine that, by contrast, most Americans are cheering. Taking out the cartels’ death-dealing drug fleet beats trying to interdict the narcotics on the streets of Newark or Oakland.
Sponsored by Democrat Sens. Adam Schiff of California and Tim Kaine of Virginia, a resolution invoking the War Powers Act failed 48-51 to pass the Senate on Oct. 8. Last Thursday, Senate Democrats blocked an $852 billion defense spending bill.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has moved eight warships, an attack submarine, jet fighters, spy planes and reaper drones into international waters and skies near Venezuela. Mr. Trump announced on Wednesday that the CIA is operating inside the South American country. It’s no secret that he would like to see regime change.
Part of the president’s rationale is that Venezuela’s socialist government under dictator Nicolas Maduro is killing Americans by profiting from illicit narcotics, especially cocaine. A State Department report released in March named Venezuela as “a major drug transit country.”
Having destroyed the oil-rich nation’s economy with confiscatory socialist policies, the Maduro government has become a major player in drug distribution by home-grown gangs such as Tren de Aragua, who execute anyone in their way.
Concerns over a president’s legal use of military power are not to be dismissed lightly, but here’s something about which the media have developed amnesia. From 2020 to 2024, a total of more than 503,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, the majority of them from fentanyl, a synthetic opioid often mixed with cocaine or heroin.
The current prediction is for about 76,000 deaths in 2025, according to health officials. Add this to the previous five years’ toll and it comes to nearly 580,000 dead Americans.
That exceeds the populations of major cities such as Albuquerque, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Miami, or Atlanta.
Overdoses remain the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44.Anyone facilitating this carnage is arguably waging war on the United States.
Fentanyl, which is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin, is created from precursor chemicals made in Communist China and shipped to Mexican and Central American drug cartels.
It’s partly why the second Trump administration levied stiff tariffs against Canada and Mexico, which he said were indifferent to the fentanyl smuggling that is wreaking havoc in the U.S.
He also levied punitive tariffs on China for its precursor trafficking, not to mention its predatory pricing, corporate espionage, cyber terrorism and other hostile actions.
In addition to designating several of the drug cartels as global terrorist organizations, the United States has named Mr. Maduro as an international narco-terrorist.
In August, the U.S. State Department and the Justice Department doubled a bounty for information leading to Mr. Maduro’s arrest to $50 million.
An estimated 7.7 million Venezuelans have fled their country since Mr. Maduro took over from the Cuba-backed Marxist leader Hugo Chavez in 2013. The world seems to be waking up to the Maduro regime’s crimes, including his stealing of his nation’s presidential election in July 2024, crushing dissent and arresting opposition leaders.
On Oct. 10, the Nobel Committee awarded the 2025 Peace Prize to Venezuela opposition party leader Maria Corina Machado, who had to flee for her life after the election. The committee cited her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
This is one brave lady. Mr. Trump congratulated her when she called him on the day she won the award. He said she told him he was worthy of the award as well.
Mr. Trump had brokered the Abraham Accords between Israel and several Arab nations in 2020. In the past 10 months, he has fostered several more peace agreements, including those between Congo and Rwanda, India and Pakistan, and between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Although some accused the Nobel Committee of snubbing America’s president, nominations for the 2025 Peace Prize closed on Jan. 31, 2025, less than two weeks into Mr. Trump’s second term.
Unlike former President Barack Obama, who was given the Peace Prize in 2009 following what might be called his World America Apology Tour, Mr. Trump has actually helped stop or prevent conflicts.
Mr. Trump and Communist China leader Xi Jinping are slated to meet during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1.
Although the discussions will center on tariffs and China’s stranglehold on rare earth minerals, the Middle Kingdom is still the source of most precursor chemicals.
Venezuela and Mexico may be America’s neighborhood pushers, but China is the global drug lord behind fentanyl. The president should push Mr. Xi on the precursor issue. While he’s at it, he can bring up China’s latest vicious crackdown on Christian pastors.
As for Venezuela, we can hope and pray that the people of that once-prosperous and free nation find a way to rid themselves of their socialist curse without involving the U.S. in yet another war.
This column was first published at the Washington Times.