On September 2, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that “U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.” In other words, the US had apparently bombed a boat somewhere in the Caribbean used by drug traffickers. Even basic details of what happened are still unclear. CNN quoted Democratic Jack Reed as saying “They have offered no positive identification that the boat was Venezuelan, nor that its crew were members of Tren de Aragua or any other cartel,” after his staffed was briefed on the 9th. Despite that, the next day Fox News aired an interview where the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said “we knew exactly who it was.”
On Sunday, Donald Trump told reporters, “Since the first strike and then to a lesser extent, the second, we don’t see any I mean, we almost see no boats out there, which is fine as far as I’m concerned. There’s been very little boat traffic.” So there had been two strikes as of Sunday?
On Monday, Donald Trump posted “This morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.” Beyond using a social networking site he partially owns two make such a serious announcement, he was claiming there were now two strikes that happened despite stating previously two had already happened. Confused?
Today he told reporters “We knocked off, actually, three boats not two, but you saw two.”
Considering the obvious questions about the legality of bombing these boats, when the President can’t even provide clear information on whether two or three boats have bombed things are very amiss.
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