‘Don’t give a sh*t’: JD Vance defends US airstrike on Venezuelan drug boat that killed 11

Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military.

— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 6, 2025

Trump himself seemed eager to showcase the strike. On Truth Social, he warned, “Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!” Speaking in the Oval Office days later, the president claimed “massive amounts of drugs” were recovered on the vessel. “We have tapes of them speaking,” he said. “In fact you see it, you see the bags of drugs all over the boat.”

I don’t give a shit what you call it

— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 6, 2025

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has suggested this is just the beginning. “We’ve got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships,” he said on Fox News. “This is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won’t stop with just this strike. Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate.”

The administration has moved quickly to frame cartel violence as terrorism. Earlier this year, the State Department designated eight drug trafficking groups as foreign terrorist organisations, including Tren de Aragua. While the designation does not itself grant authority to use force, it has historically laid the groundwork for military action. Elon Musk, commenting on social media after the designations, put it more bluntly: “It means they’re eligible for drone strikes.”

Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” echoed that sentiment in November: the president was “committed to calling [the cartels] terrorist organisations and using the full might of the United States special operations to take them out.” Hegseth has gone further, firing Pentagon lawyers who raised questions about legal limits on military force.

The approach is unusual. Rather than seizing the boat and arresting its crew, the US chose to blow it up in international waters – tactics more commonly associated with the pursuit of al-Qaeda than drug runners. A Just Security analysis noted that the “extraordinary lethal attack” raised “a number of significant potential legal issues” and amounted to “a deeply troubling gratuitous use of the military.” Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, said he would be “digging into” whether the administration violated US law.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has significantly increased its presence in the southern Caribbean. Seven US warships and a nuclear-powered submarine are now in the region, along with more than 4,500 Marines and sailors. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, accused by US officials of running a “narco state,” has denounced the buildup as preparation for regime change. His government, backed by China, has begun mobilising civilian brigades against what it says is an imminent invasion.

Inside the Trump administration, there is little doubt about the direction of policy. “The only person that should be worried is Nicolas Maduro,” Hegseth said.