The Overthinker's Journal

This morning we heard about another U.S. strike on a vessel in the Caribbean. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the operation in a tweet. He described the target as a boat operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), “a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO),” carrying narcotics; he said six people aboard were killed. 

According to him, these were narcotics smugglers. Not enemy combatants in a declared war. They’re not flying the flag of a terrorist nation we are at war with. They are, according to him, drug runners. Then, he makes the jump from narcotics smugglers to “narco-terrorists” in one sentence.

This is a boat that the President has designated to be terrorists, and therefore he’s claiming this allows the military to blow up the boat and kill the members on board.

When asked why he won’t seek a declaration of war, President Trump responded:

We’re going to kill them. You know? They’re going to be, like, dead.

There’s another term for that. Extrajudicial execution.

We are a nation of laws. If these boats are filled with drug-runners, then let’s use the criminal process. Board the ship, collect the evidence, and demonstrate they are what the government claims them to be, and then punish them.

They may be exactly what he claims they are, but that’s what our legal system exists for.

Our Constitution declares the right to trial by jury in criminal cases:

Amendment V: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Notice the use of the term “person” in the Fifth Amendment. Our forefathers were very explicit. They said “citizen” when they meant citizen and “person” when they meant person. The United States Government cannot deprive anybody of the right to trial by jury, and they have the right to a public trial.

For the record, 40% of the Bill of Rights deal with the right to fair trials and fair punishment. In addition to the Fifth and Sixth Amendments cited above, the Seventh states that civil cases also enjoy the right of trial by jury, and the Eighth says that cruel and unusual punishments (dropping bombs on their head?) are not allowed:

Amendment VII: In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The Constitution is clear. The President doesn’t have the authority to serve as judge, jury, and executioner.

But even beyond this, what scares me is that Trump is trying to normalize the idea of a lack of due process for people he considers his enemies.

We’ve already seen how labeling people made it easier to justify removing their civil rights for undocumented immigrants.

Once he called them members of gangs or affiliated with terrorist groups, they were rounded up and shipped off to foreign concentration camps without trial.

Now it’s people in boats. He calls them terrorists, and then he blows them up. They have no chance to refute the claims.

This is why I worry when I read that the administration has applied the term “domestic terrorists” to people who disagree with him.

I hereby designate Antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization.”  All relevant executive departments and agencies shall utilize all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations — especially those involving terrorist actions — conducted by Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa, or for which Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa provided material support, including necessary investigatory and prosecutorial actions against those who fund such operations. 

Dissenters now constitute a “Domestic Terrorist Organization”.

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that abbreviates to the same letters, “DTO,” that appear in the acronym Hegseth used in his tweet… Right?

What happens when he says someone is a terrorist? Evidently that means he’s allowed to kill them without a trial.