This means war! Trump’s willingness to launch strikes on ships allegedly carrying drugs has split CNN members. The debate turned heated as a few members of the panel labelled the President’s orders as a “bad precedent.” Matters escalated when Republican Betsy McCaughey claimed that the argument was “preposterous.”
It looks like Donald Trump is not changing his mind when it comes to his spree of ship strikes. The decision has evoked mass criticism from both liberals and Republicans alike. When questioned about the same, the 79-year-old made it clear that he did not need Congress’s approval to launch the strikes.
“I’m not going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” he admitted. “I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country,” Trump added. He noted how anybody who has that objective in mind is “going to be like, dead.”
Rand Paul, a Republican Senator, has spoken up against the ship strikes that took several lives, calling them “summary execution.” The nation is split over the decision, while many debate whether Trump’s attitude is shifting towards authoritarianism.
A similar debate took place on CNN after the US military announced that it would not hesitate to strike ships in the Pacific Ocean. Abby Phillip, a CNN host, brought this up and noted how dangerous the Trump administration can get.
“When the government just says, we can kill whoever we want because we’re telling you that they’re bad guys, isn’t that a bad precedent to set?” Philip asked Republican Betsy McCaughey, also present at the panel.
Bakari Sellers: “We are questioning who [these drug strikes] are kiIIing… We just don’t know because of NDAs and everything else. That there are some innocent people who have been kiIIed, some actual real-life fishermen who have been kiIIed.”
Betsy McCaughey: “Oh the… pic.twitter.com/Q6qTRkfl0b
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) October 29, 2025
McCaughey defended the strikes while dismissing the question and labelling the line of reasoning as “preposterous.” The Republican claimed that the people who launched the strike were launched against were “foreign combatants” without providing any evidence of the same.
Philip was quick to question whether McCaughey knew what drugs were being carried on the vessels. The former Lieutenant Governor added that she would rather the government “supply” the information to that query.
“But to suggest that Trump is becoming an authoritarian military dictator over this is preposterous,” she replied while being fired up. CNN commentator Bakari Sellers, who was a part of the panel, accused the President of having an ulterior motive while carrying out the strikes.
Sellers claimed that the strikes were “all about oil.” Betsy dismissed the “conspiracy theory” while labelling it, again, as “preposterous.” Ana Kasparia supported the claim while adding that Venezuela had the largest oil reserves.
Social media users chimed in on the debate while supporting the claims Seller and Kasparia were making. “Correct. Always about the money with Trump and his oligarchs,” one comment read. “It is totally about oil,” a second user added.
