To be clear, that September attack was not an isolated incident. Trump has now ordered more than twenty deadly strikes against ships believed to be carrying drugs from Venezuela, resulting in the deaths of an estimated eighty-three people. His administration has yet to release the legal justification the Pentagon relies on for the strikes or evidence to support its claims that those killed were actually drug traffickers. Even if they were—as Republican Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio, the former chairman of the Intelligence Committee, noted Thursday morning—drug trafficking is not punishable by extrajudicial execution by missile. Although the murder of two defenseless men left floating in the water during the September strike caused a sensation in the days following Fast scoop, the entire military campaign in itself is a disgrace. “Focusing on the castaways is a distraction because it assumes that everything else leading up to and after this strike was legal,” said Ryan Goodman, a New York University law professor and former Pentagon lawyer. Time. “Even under the law of armed conflict, they were all civilians, and we are not actually in an armed conflict. In any case, this was all murder.”
Still, Trump escalated the undeclared war by threatening to overthrow the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, writing on social media that the country's airspace was “COMPLETELY CLOSED” and warning that ground strikes could begin “very soon.”
All of this is entirely consistent with the unilateral exercise of war powers that has been the hallmark of Trump's second term. While the president has chased glory for resolving conflicts in other countries, he has launched strikes in Iran, Somalia, Syria and Yemen since returning to power in January. He called American cities “war zones” and sent in the military to quell waves of phantom crime despite the opposition of elected leaders.
It's quite difficult for Trump to simultaneously claim credit for ending wars that haven't actually ended yet while starting new ones that have no legal basis, other than Trump's belief that he, and he alone, can decide what qualifies as an emergency worthy of sending in troops. On Monday—at the very moment the U.S. is issuing a death sentence on a bunch of guys on boats who may or may not be drug traffickers, and threatening to overthrow the Venezuelan president for his ties to guys on boats he may or may not have—former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted by the Justice Department last year of drug trafficking on a truly epic scale, walked free thanks to a Trump pardon. “Why would we forgive this guy and then prosecute Maduro for bringing drugs into the United States?” asked Bill Cassidy, a Republican senator from Louisiana. Good question. Is this the long-awaited Trump doctrine?
Of course, there has always been a striking gap between Trump's self-perception and how others see him. By his standards, appearing to the world as a peacemaker while waging an undeclared and largely inexplicable war is hardly the boldest contradiction Trump asks us to swallow. Yet the remarkable aspect of his remarkable decade in politics was his ability to persuade millions of Americans to believe even his most egregious misrepresentations.
I couldn't help but think about this as I watched what was by far the most memorable of Trump's appearances this week – him dozing on camera while his Secretary of State Marco Rubio touted his peacekeeping efforts. “In all of this, Mr. President, I think you deserve tremendous credit,” Rubio said. When Rubio mentioned the “transformational aspect of our foreign policy,” Trump stirred briefly before leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes again.
The images of the Slumbering Don, “the greatest businessman in the history of our country,” as Rubio's State Department called him this week, are sure to become iconic. After all, it was only minutes into Tuesday's nearly three-hour Cabinet meeting when Trump made his obligatory announcement, contrasting himself with his predecessor, “Sleepy Joe” Biden, the oldest, least energetic and worst president ever. Trump's main message to his followers has always been his strength, power and energy – his willingness to fight for them, no matter what. Will he still be able to command their devotion when his energy fades before their eyes? Is there a point at which the contradiction between his self-image and what we see becomes too great to support? As the president enters his eighties, the difference between Trump's reality and reality-reality will only widen.
Perhaps his falling poll numbers and the emerging signs of rebellion among some Republican members of Congress who are less eager to endorse war crimes in a war they did not authorize will prompt Trump to wake up and rethink at least some of his misguided actions. But don't bet on it. Whether he's awake or fast asleep, he'll still be surrounded by strong sycophants like Rubio, who seem to have no problem putting his name on buildings and praising him no matter what he does. How long will it be before they honor our great peacemaker for his great victory at the Battle of the Caribbean, a glittering event that will no doubt be held in the Donald J. Trump Ballroom on the Donald J. Trump Executive Complex? ♦
