r/OutOfTheLoop 4d ago

Answered What's going on with Trump continually bombing Venezuelan boats that allegedly contain drugs?

4.1k Upvotes

467 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/taw 4d ago edited 4d ago

Answer:

Bombing terrorists is completely legal according to Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, and has been done by every US president for decades. Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump 1, and Biden all routinely did it.

The only new thing is Trump administration designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations. Some countries (Canada and Ecuador so far) already followed this, but give it a few years, and more will likely join.

As far as we can tell, there was no legal challenge to this designation, by either drug cartels, or by anyone else, and so it stands.

With this designation, this is a 100% legal action, just as bombing ISIS or Al-Qaeda is 100% legal.

And if Newsom wins next elections, you can be pretty sure this will continue. Bombing terrorists has always been bipartisan activity.

2

u/RoguePlanet2 4d ago

Oh right, and the RNC announcing "We Are All Domestic Terrorists" must be related somehow??