President Trump has vowed to “hurt” more criminals, days after he personally gave the go-ahead on an attack that killed 11 people.
“There’s more where that came from,” Trump vowed at a news conference at the White House last week after so-called narcoterrorists from the cartel Tren de Aragua were eliminated by the U.S. military in the Caribbean.
Trump, 79, has now returned to threatening criminals, this time saying that lawbreakers in Chicago are in his sights. He began his Monday morning rant by saying that in the “past number of weeks, approximately 50 people were killed” in the city, the third largest in the U.S. by population.
“Governor Pritzker just stated that he doesn’t want Federal Government HELP! WHY???” he said, referring to pushback from Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker.
Pritzker, a Democrat, said his city “won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.” Trump has said he’d like to send in the National Guard to fight crime, like he did in Washington, D.C.
“I want to help the people of Chicago, not hurt them,” he said on Truth Social, making his threat by adding, “Only the Criminals will be hurt! We can move fast and stop this madness.”
He then urged the people in Pritzker’s state to “band together and DEMAND PROTECTION.” Continuing in all caps, he added, “IT IS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE!!! ACT NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!!”
Later on, while speaking at the White House Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible, he expanded, saying, “When you have horrible killings, you have to take horrible actions… We’d love to go into Chicago and straighten it out.”
The strike on the alleged drug vessel in the Caribbean, meanwhile, immediately attracted criticism for being an over-the-top response in international waters. The administration claims that members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua were on board the doomed boat.
In the wake of the attack, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said he has “absolute and complete authority” to kill suspected drug smugglers in “defense of the American people.”
Hegseth has bragged about the drone strike, which was captured on video and shared by the White House. Venezuelan officials, however, have claimed the video is a fake.
“I’d say we smoked a drug boat, and there’s 11 narcoterrorists at the bottom of the ocean,” Hegseth said. “And when other people try to do that, they’re gonna meet the same fate.”
Trump said the attack was carried out on his orders.
He posted to Truth Social, “The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States. The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!”
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