You can almost hear the panic from the D.C. press corps:
“Trump is launching missile strikes on drug boats! This is unprecedented! This is barbaric! This is a war crime!”
Please.
The only thing unprecedented about what’s happening in the Caribbean is the honesty. The only thing Donald Trump has changed is the target set. And the only shocking development is that the same voices who applauded every drone strike under a Democrat president now suddenly pretend to own a conscience.
Let’s call this what it is: Obama’s Double-Tap, resurrected, repackaged, and redeployed.
For those with selective memory: a double-tap is when you hit the target — and then you hit it again. You strike, then you strike the survivors, or anyone rushing in to help them. It was perfected during the Obama-era CIA and Pentagon drone campaigns. The tactic didn’t originate with Trump — he simply picked up the same tool that had already been normalized by the “smart power” crowd.
And when Democrats did it? Silence.
When Hollywood’s favorite president did it? Cheers.
When the Pulitzer committee’s favorite administration did it? “Necessary,” they said. “Humane,” they insisted.
But now… now that the targets are narco-terrorist networks — the fentanyl-pushing, human-slaughtering cartels that operate like roaming death squads — suddenly it’s immoral? Spare me.
Since late summer, U.S. forces have hit more than two dozen vessels ferrying drugs that would have ended up killing Americans on our streets. No plea bargains. No attorneys. No revolving-door justice. Just boom — splash — threat eliminated. One of those operations involved a second shot after the boat was already disabled — because men who profit from chemical slaughter don’t always surrender.
Terrifying? Yes.
Sobering? Absolutely.
New? Not even close.
This isn’t some rogue Trump innovation. This is a tactic that former Democrat leaders used and justified — then handed off like a fully-charged weapon to the next commander-in-chief. The method stayed the same. Only the political jerseys changed.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth for the latte-spilling pundits:
When Obama ordered these strikes overseas, he was hailed as strong.
When Trump orders the same kind of strikes against the cartel extremists murdering Americans? He’s suddenly a villain.
The outrage isn’t ethical. It’s partisan.
Cartels kill far more Americans every year than al-Qaeda ever managed. Police chiefs call fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction. These traffickers aren’t out for a fishing trip. They aren’t unarmed. They aren’t confused about who the enemy is. They carry military hardware, maintain global supply chains, and enforce discipline through mass graves.
When they make it to U.S. waters, they do not come bearing peace. They come bearing body bags.
Now — let’s be sober. I’m not saying lethal force outside declared war zones should ever become casual. America must never become numb to the value of human life — even when that life belongs to a criminal.
I believe in due process.
I believe in human dignity.
I believe in the moral burden of state power.
But I also believe in telling the truth. And pretending this policy is brand-new is a lie. A lazy lie. A politically convenient lie that distracts from real questions we should ask:
• Are the legal vetting standards tight enough?
• Is Congress being properly briefed?
• Are we striking only legitimate threats?
If people want transparency — great. Demand it.
If Congress wants oversight — fantastic. Assert it.
But do not sit there and tell the American public that one administration’s double-taps were dipped in virtue… while another’s are dipped in sin.
Either the tactic itself is immoral — period — or it’s a brutal but necessary reality of modern conflict against globalized killers.
Pick a lane. Stay in it. And apply your ethics consistently, not according to the names on campaign yard signs.
If narco-terror networks are now the leading cause of American deaths from hostile actors, then it’s time we accept that the front lines have shifted. The fight isn’t always in caves halfway around the world anymore.
Do I want America engaged in gray-zone conflict forever? No.
Do I want a world where our enemies fear ever touching our children with chemical poison? Yes. Without hesitation.
Because here’s what we all know:
Cartel warlords aren’t waiting for court rulings. They’re not asking lawyers for permission. They’re not debating philosophical nuance before they tape a teenage boy to a bridge as a warning. They are clear about who their enemy is.
It’s time we be just as clear.
If Obama could double-tap in the name of “global security,” then Trump can double-tap in the name of American kids.
We don’t have to cheer it. We don’t have to love it. But we must not pretend it’s new — or that protecting our own is the greater sin.