Democratic Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has voiced support for using lethal force against drug cartels after an attack on a Venezuelan vessel left 11 people dead on Tuesday.
“Fully support confronting the scourge of cartel drug trafficking to our nation,” Fetterman wrote in a social media post.
Not everyone agrees. Republican Sen. Rand Paul questioned the move, warning that the rules for such actions could become unclear.
“You might ask the question, where does it end? Are we the world’s policemen? Are we going to be blowing people up off the coast all around the world?” Paul said in an interview with Newsmax. “Is it really the constitutional duty of our government?” he added.
Paul’s comments appeared to be directed at President Donald Trump, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Wednesday that it was Trump himself who ordered the strike.
“Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders, we blew it up,” Rubio told reporters during a press conference in Mexico.
“And it will happen again,” Rubio continued. Before traveling to Mexico, he had already suggested that the Trump administration plans to “go on the offense” against cartels.
Rubio added that Trump is “going to use the full power of America and the full might of the U.S. to take on and eradicate these drug cartels no matter where they’re operating from and no matter how long they’ve been able to act with impunity.”
