Donald Trump
Role at the time: President of the United States, addressing the U.N. General Assembly
Defended or excused
Statement summary
Trump told the U.N. General Assembly that cartels are "enemies at war with civilization" who "should be killed, exiled, or detained as enemy combatants" and that the United States "has carried out dozens of strikes on cartel drug boats".
“The cartels are the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere, not good people. They're enemies at war with civilization, using murder, rape, torture, and extortion as instruments of terror. … they should be killed, exiled, or detained as enemy combatants without the possibility of release, which is what we're doing. To that end, the United States has carried out dozens of strikes on cartel drug boats, destroying 97% of the drugs coming into the ocean and sea.”
Read the original post (opens in a new tab)President Trump remarks on cartels and drug boats at the U.N. General Assembly, September 22, 2026 (Rapid Response 47 clip)86-second clip of the passage on cartels and drug boats
Video clip of the passage from the President's U.N. General Assembly address, posted by the White House's Rapid Response 47 account. The quotation in this record is taken from the audio.
Why we used this label
Measured against the strikes and their stated basis, Trump treats the cartels as enemies at war with the United States and presents the boat strikes as part of that approach and as effective, which defends them.