Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said Vice President JD Vance showed a “disdain for human life” with his response to a strike on Venezuelan drug smugglers.
Paul gave a rare show of defiance against the Trump administration when he openly criticized a United States strike against an alleged Venezuelan drug smuggling boat. Paul elaborated on his logic to Politico.
“But I think what really ticked me off and got me going was for someone to glorify the idea of killing people without any due process and saying he just didn’t give a s*** what anybody who was going to criticize him was going to say. That to me was a disdain for human life and a disdain for processes,” Paul said.
The feud began on Saturday, when Vance praised the strike following a video of Trump releasing the hit.
“Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military,” Vance wrote on X.
After another user said it was a war crime to kill “the citizens of another nation who are civilians without any due process,” Vance quipped, “I don’t give a s*** what you call it.”
Paul quoted Vance’s response, calling his statement “despicable” and “thoughtless.”
“JD ‘I don’t give a s***’ Vance says killing people he accuses of a crime is the ‘highest and best use of the military.’ Did he ever read To Kill a Mockingbird?” Paul said. “Did he ever wonder what might happen if the accused were immediately executed without trial or representation?? What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial.”
Many Republicans took issue with Paul’s choice of outrage, arguing that he was picking the wrong fight. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) accused Paul of justifying “foreign terrorist drug traffickers who are directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans in Kentucky and Ohio.” He added, “JD understands that our first responsibility is to protect the life and liberty of American citizens.”
CONGRESS LEFT IN THE DARK AS TRUMP DEFENDS BLOWING UP VENEZUELAN DRUG BOAT
Paul was widely mocked by right-wing commentators online, particularly over his use of a fictional work to prove his point.
Trump defended his decision to attack the vessel in a letter to congressional leaders, saying the strike was carried out against a boat “assessed to be affiliated with a designated terrorist organization and to be engaged in illicit drug trafficking activities.” He said he had the authority to carry out the strike as a lawful use of self-defense under his Article II powers, writing that drug cartels designated as terrorist organizations “have reached a critical point where we must meet this threat to our citizens and our most vital national interests with United States military force.”
