During a press conference in the Oval Office this week, a reporter asked President Donald Trump about his new policy of summarily executing suspected drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea, which so far has included five military strikes on speedboats, killing a total of at least 27 people. "Why not have the Coast Guard stop them," as it is "empowered by law to do?" the reporter wondered. That way, he suggested, "you can confirm who's on the boat" and "ensure that they're doing what you suspect."
Trump's answer was not that drug smuggling is tantamount to violent aggression, as he has repeatedly claimed, or that it merits the death penalty, as he has long argued. Nor did he aver that blowing up the boats is consistent with the law of war because the United States is engaged in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels, as the White House recently told Congress. Rather, Trump claimed his literalization of the war on drugs was necessary because the usual interdiction methods have been "totally ineffective" for "30 years."
