The idea that the Trump administration might be committing war crimes or murder by blowing up boats in the Caribbean that they believe are carrying drugs is not going away.
Republicans are being frequently asked about it, and to say that their answers have been less than satisfying, or even credible, would be an understatement.
Republicans who are defending Pete Hegseth’s actions have been resting their explanations on the evidence-free concept that the United States is at war.
Who is this enemy? How is the country at war with a group of boats and not an actual nation? These are all questions that Republicans have been unable to answer.
Sen. Tom Cotton had his rationale for defending Trump challenged on CNN, and it didn’t go great for the GOP.
CNN’s John Berman asked, “Let ask you this specific question, would it be legal for police in Arkansas to kill suspected drug dealers on an overturned boat?”
Cotton answered:
Well, well, John, let me go back to the premise of your question. The Washington Post reported that Pete Hegseth had given an unlawful order of no quarter or no one left alive or kill them all.
Pete Hegseth denied that last week and it didn’t deny that there was a second strike. Mitch Bradley and Dan Kane both flatly denied that yesterday as well, which some of the Democrats who watched that video and got those briefings confirmed. So that’s what the Washington Post reported. That is a total and complete lie.
I I just respectfully disagree with my Democratic friends here. I, I think the problem they have is not with the second strike. It’s with the first strike and every other strike on these boats. They think the entire operation is not well-founded. I, I just disagree with them. I think with the analogy I would draw is s not Arkansas police officers dealing with American citizens.
If those boats were loaded with bombs or missiles headed for the United States, I don’t think anyone would dispute that. We had every right and indeed a duty to intercept them, but those drugs detonate like a bomb all across Arkansas and all across America.
Killing hundreds of Arkansans and hundreds of thousands of Americans. Our government has a duty to protect our communities from those drugs.
Berman didn’t get an answer to his original question, so he asked again, “Senator, let’s, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. Can I just take this in pieces and we first answer my question? Would it be legal for police in Arkansas to kill suspected drug dealers in an overturned boat in a lake in Arkansas? Just answer that and then I will address your question on the other thing.”
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