For the past few months, the U.S. Navy has been blowing up small speed boats in the Caribbean and even in the Pacific. The orders to do this come from the President and the Secretary of Defense. They say they are blowing up boats that are transporting drugs to the U.S. They must do this, say Trump and Hegseth, to protect the American people from the scourge of drugs. They say the boats originate in Venezuela, and Trump has threatened to bomb that country.

How do they know that the boats they destroy are carrying drugs? How do they know that the 80 or so people they killed are drug runners? Where’s the evidence? They won’t say.

An even bigger controversy arose when The Washington Post reported that the first boat to be blown up required two separate strikes, because after the smoke cleared, it was apparent that two men survived the explosion and were clinging to the remains of the smouldering boat. According to the Post, Hegseth had give oral orders to “kill them all.” So the planes came back and killed the two survivors.

The story appalled members of both parties. Trump said he knew nothing about it, Hegseth said the Admiral in charge gave the order, and Hegseth called him a hero.

Congressional hearings might get to the truth. Will the Admiral admit to a war crime to save Hegseth’s skin? According to the laws of war, killing a defenseless survivor who poses no threat is a war crime.

Watch Adam Kinzinger, a military veteran and former member of Congress, explain why this action was a heinous war crime.

Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the second strike because the President is determined to keep drugs out of the U.S.

But by an unfortunate coincidence, the news about the second strike coincided with Trump’s decision to pardon Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former President of Honduras, who had been sentenced to 45 years in prison for his role in bringing 500 tons of cocaine into the U.S. Trump said he was a victim of Biden’s overzealous and unfair prosecution.

But here is how The New York Times described him, in a story written by Santul NerkarAnnie Correal and Colin Moynihan.

He once boasted that he would “stuff the drugs up the gringos’ noses.” He accepted a $1 million bribe from El Chapo to allow cocaine shipments to pass through Honduras. A man was killed in prison to protect him.

At the federal trial of Juan Orlando Hernández in New York, testimony and evidence showed how the former president maintained Honduras as a bastion of the global drug trade. He orchestrated a vast trafficking conspiracy that prosecutors said raked in millions for cartels while keeping Honduras one of Central America’s poorest, most violent and most corrupt countries.

Last year, Mr. Hernández was convicted on drug trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison. It was one of the most sweeping drug-trafficking cases to come before a U.S. court since the trial of the Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega three decades before.

Last year, Mr. Hernández was convicted on drug trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison. It was one of the most sweeping drug-trafficking cases to come before a U.S. court since the trial of the Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega three decades before.

But on Friday, President Trump announced that he would pardon Mr. Hernandez, 57, who he said was a victim of political persecution, though Mr. Trump offered no evidence to support that claim. It would be a head-spinning resolution to a case that for prosecutors was a pinnacle, striking at the heart of a narcostate.

But on Friday, President Trump announced that he would pardon Mr. Hernandez, 57, who he said was a victim of political persecution, though Mr. Trump offered no evidence to support that claim. It would be a head-spinning resolution to a case that for prosecutors was a pinnacle, striking at the heart of a narcostate.

Prosecutors said Mr. Hernández was key to a scheme that lasted more than 20 years and brought more than 500 tons of cocaine into the United States.

What’s the logic? Kill the drug runners who, if they are drug runners, are paid $500 a day. Let the kingpin go free.

Trump is not serious about stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S.