Photo: John McDonnell
The Trump administration has been carrying out aggressive kinetic strikes against cartel boats transporting drugs in the Caribbean for months, and according to the Reagan National Defense Survey, 62 percent of Americans support those actions.
This is despite an ongoing effort from opponents of President Trump to demonize the strikes, with some even claiming they might constitute war crimes. So how is it that despite all the propaganda, these strikes are still receiving widespread support?
National security expert Ed Turzanski says this is likely due to the fact that Americans are sick and tired of the drug crisis and are ready for substantial action to stop it. “The American people live with the consequences of drugs flowing into their communities,” he explained. “It should be treated like a kinetic war.”
According to the CDC, more than 77,000 people overdosed on fentanyl in a recent 12-month period. Turzanski says that when you have mass poisoning of Americans on that scale, you simply have to respond.
He also says that given the support these strikes seem to have, you can expect them to continue. “The opponents of this are gonna keep screaming,” he said, “and the administration is just going to keep doing what it needs to do to make sure as much of this supply is cut off as possible.”