Featured Image Credit: Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News, Crime, Social Media, Twitter
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Madison Burgess
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News, Crime, Social Media, Twitter
Donald Trump has controversially threatened to 'just kill people' who are believed to be trafficking drugs into the US, amid his crackdown on the issue.
The US president, 79, has vowed that his administration will continue to attack drug cartels on both land and sea as he issued shocking new comments on the plan yesterday (23 October).
For context, the US military has been increasing its presence in the Caribbean and East Pacific by issuing a series of deadly strikes.
The country has carried out a number of strikes against suspected drug vessels since early September, and so far 37 people have died.
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Among them is a Colombian fisherman whose family claim he had no ties to drugs.
Trump has made it clear his next target is away from the water, telling reporters: "Now they [drugs] are coming in by land ... you know, the land is going to be next."
And when quizzed by a reporter why he doesn't want to request a formal declaration of war from Congress if he's planning land-based attacks, Trump simply responded: "I’m not going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war.
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"I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. Okay? We're going to kill them, you know, they're going to be, like, dead."
He added: "And we may go to the Senate, we may go to the, you know, Congress and tell them about it, but I can't imagine they would have any problem with it.
"I think, in fact, while we're here, if you go to Congress and you tell them about it, what are they going to do? Say, 'We don't want to stop drugs pouring in'."
According to the BBC, legal experts have called Trump's authority to engage in these attacks into question.
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While others are concerned over how certain the administration are that the people they're killing in these attacks are actually drug traffickers.
And of course, the US president so nonchalantly saying he's going to kill people has understandably caused a bit of a stir.
One Twitter user penned: "This is absolutely insane! Dude is just going to war on cartels without even trying to go through congress for a declaration of war."
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While a second added: "He sounds like a five-year-old, if that five-year-old was also a complete psychopath."
And a third quipped: "The problem with being judge, jury, and executioner is if you are wrong - you are a murderer."
While others chimed in with: "Summary execution without trial?" and "If Joe Biden said that Republicans would be outraged."
Someone else argued: "Buddy this isn’t a good thing, that’s how random innocent people get killed. I don’t trust this administration to do anything right."
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Anna Kelly, a representative for the White House, said: “’Colombian fisherman’ is the new ‘Maryland Man’ hoax – just like the media tried to paint MS-13 human smuggler Kilmar Abrego Garcia as ‘father of the year,’ they are now running cover for foreign terrorists smuggling deadly narcotics intended to murder Americans.
"President Trump is using every element of American power to take on the cartels and stop deadly drugs from flooding into our country – just like he promised on the campaign trail."