A few thoughts. There is no war declared. Carrying out drug runner interventions in the Caribbean Sea is very messy, especially when there are far better alternatives that do not require an aircraft carrier battle group in waters considered to be mostly friendly and allied.
I find this entire scenario outrageous, expensive, and very much out of line with the mission of the USA military.
This has to be one of the most irresponsible uses of an aircraft carrier in Navy history. Congress needs to assert itself in limiting the use of the USA military with drug trafficking from anywhere in the world.
This is not a war. Not by a long shot. I sincerely believe this is murder and while the people on the boats may be criminal in their intent they never had a trial or proof of their purpose. I believe due to sincere lack of proof of the crime in these interdictions the families of these men have legal recourse.
Trump and Hegseth are among the worst leadership this country has ever had and this is more proof of it. Hegseth is not qualified to speak to admirals and generals by the sheer fact he is abusing power granted to him by the title alone as Secretary of Defense. He is even operating under an alias of Secretary of War.
Trump and Hegseth have no respect for the power easily at their disposal and they have absolutely no respect for Congress. They are both operating outside their defined office as if dictatorial powers actually exist.
I have to laugh at the politicians in Venezuela. Maduro could never defeat the USA military and the rightful and freely elected president believes Trump is a liberator. She has no real idea of the workcraft of Trump. He is not a liberator. Trump is a racketeer. Even if it were possible to bloodlessly remove Maduro, the price to the new president with the USA military occupying Venezuela; she has no reassurance of power, except as a figurehead.
The United States Rule of Law calls the military the Department of Defense for real reasons. It is not a liberation force. It is a defense force and always has been. The USA military is highly lethal. No country in this world wants this country’s military within their borders.
With all that said, Hegseth is way out of line in his time as Defense Secretary. Congress needs to be acting to contain the misguided ideology of this Defense Secretary. The Caribbean Sea has a role in providing sun filled warmth to vacationing Americans and NATO is in a far more precarious situation than it has been since WWII.
