admin
Congressman Rich McCormick’s blunt warning about Venezuelan narco-boats is not alarmism — it is the sober judgment of someone who understands the stakes for American families. For too long, smugglers and their state enablers have operated with impunity in the Caribbean while Washington debated memos and hand-wringing. When a member of Congress says these vessels are operated by “bad guys,” hardworking Americans who bury sons and daughters to fentanyl know exactly what he means.
The Trump administration’s decision to use military force against confirmed narcotics-running vessels is the kind of decisive action our country desperately needed after years of weak, talk-heavy policies. Critics scream about “extrajudicial” labels while overlooking the truth: cartels and terror-linked criminal networks are exporting death to our streets. If that reality makes establishment pundits uncomfortable, so be it — it won’t comfort the families who lost children to drugs.
America’s first duty is to its citizens, and shutting down maritime drug routes is national security, plain and simple. The left’s reflexive outrage at military interdiction ignores the simple fact that cartel profits bankroll corruption, tyrants, and violence across the hemisphere. Republicans like McCormick are right to insist that we treat these networks with the seriousness reserved for mortal threats.
Washington’s coastal elites and international bureaucrats would prefer polite diplomacy while fentanyl continues to flood our cities, but real leaders act when lives are on the line. Those who parrot international condemnations without offering alternatives are choosing the comfort of virtue-signaling over the hard work of protecting Americans. This administration is finally putting American lives first — and conservatives should stand tall behind it.
Too many in the GOP folded under the weight of legal and procedural hand-wringing in previous years; now is the time for clear-eyed strength. If our laws are inadequate, fix them through Congress — but don’t tie the commander’s hands while cartel boats keep coming. McCormick’s message was a call to lawmakers: fund the mission, give clear authority, and stop letting ideology get in the way of safety.
We should also be clear-eyed about who’s playing the hypocrite in this debate. Left-wing leaders who once cheered open borders and soft-on-crime policies now feign moral outrage when the consequences reach beyond America’s shorelines. Their concern rings hollow to the moms and dads who want action, not lectures from coastal elites who never had to choose between safety and political correctness.
At home, conservatives must push for comprehensive enforcement: fund Coast Guard and Navy capabilities, tighten cooperation with regional partners who genuinely want to fight cartels, and invest in border security that stops the flow at its source. McCormick’s alarm should be the spark for a national effort to choke off cartel revenue and end the deadly export of synthetic drugs to our communities.
This moment is a test of resolve. Will America protect its citizens, or will we revert to the old playbook of apologies and paperwork while our children die? Lawmakers like Rich McCormick are doing the hard, unpopular work of defending the nation — conservatives should amplify and support that courage every step of the way.
