Rand Paul Widely Praised For Making the Case Trump’s Deadly Boat Attacks Are Illegal

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) received widespread praise for his appearance on Meet the Press over the weekend after he made the case for why the Trump administration’s deadly strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea are illegal.

Paul was asked by host Kristen Welker, “President Trump has authorized military strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. As you know, so far more than 20 people, Senator, have been killed in six different strikes. Do you believe that these strikes against these suspected drug boats are legal?”

“No, they go against all of our tradition. You know, when you kill someone, if you’re not at war—not in a declared war—you really need to know someone’s name at least. You have to accuse them of something. You have to present evidence. So all of these people have been blown up without us knowing their name, without any evidence of a crime,” Paul replied, adding:

And for decades, if not centuries, when you stop people at sea in international waters or in your own waters, you announce that you’re going to board the ship and you’re looking for contraband, smuggling, or drugs. This happens every day off of Miami, but we know from Coast Guard statistics that about 25% of the time the Coast Guard boards a ship, there are no drugs. So if our policy now is to blow up every ship we suspect or accuse of drug running, that would be a bizarre world in which 25% of the people might be innocent.

The other thing about these speedboats is they’re 2,000 miles away from us. If they have drugs, they’re probably peddling drugs to one of the islands of Trinidad or Tobago off of Venezuela. The idea that they’re coming here is a huge assumption, and really, shouldn’t you have to present some proof?

It is the difference between war and peace. In war, though, you don’t ask people’s names. But if they want all-out war where we kill anybody and everybody that is in the country of Venezuela or coming out, that has to have a declaration of war. It’s something that is not pretty, very expensive, and I’m not in favor of declaring war on Venezuela, but the Congress should vote. The president shouldn’t do this by himself.

Paul’s argument resonated with many, including some of his critics on the left who posted the backhanded praise – including the popular “The Worst Person You Know Just Made a Great Point” meme.

Immigration attorney and activist Aaron Reichlin-Melnick shared the clip and wrote, “Senator Paul is completely correct.”

Below are some more reactions:

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