JD Vance says killing civilians is the ‘highest and best use’ of our military and he doesn’t care ‘what you call it’

JD Vance has publicly defended a recent military operation that killed 11 suspected Venezuelan drug smugglers, stating that “killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military.” This defense comes after reports that the Trump administration used an airstrike against a civilian boat, which can be seen as a war crime.

Vance’s comments, however, suggest he’s not concerned about the legality, as he responded to the war crime accusation by saying, “I don’t give a s— what you call it.” According to NBC, Sen. Rand Paul couldn’t stand by and let this kind of dictator behavior go on without some pushback. He said on X, “Did [Vance] 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.”

Legal experts and critics have questioned the legality of using lethal force against a civilian boat in international waters, with one NY Times columnist noting that the U.S. doesn’t typically “kill those suspected of being criminals from the air.” Usually, it takes a lot of confirmation before any command in war approves air strikes, and this is not even a war.

Senators are rising up against the White House’s jury and executioner mindset

The controversy stems from an incident where the Trump administration allegedly killed 11 suspected Venezuelan drug smugglers via an airstrike. While the president claimed these individuals were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, it is unknown whether that is true. It is also unknown whether there were actual drugs on the boat.

Vance’s statement that “killing cartel members… is the highest and best use of our military” is a pretty wild take, and he didn’t stop there. He went on to frame the issue as a choice between Democrats sending “your kids to die in Russia” and Republicans protecting “our people from the scum of the earth.” This is, to be fair, a pretty baseless claim, as no Democratic official has advocated for sending U.S. troops into combat in Russia. The vice president seems to believe that so long as the goal is a good one, the means to achieve it don’t matter, which is a scary thought.

This idea that the rule of law is a “hindrance” to worthwhile pursuits is something we’ve heard before from the president, who has said that many Americans are so desperate to lower crime rates that they would accept a president acting as a dictator to get the job done.

The president said that people would say, “If you call him a dictator, if he stops crime, he can be whatever he wants,” essentially arguing that accusations of tyranny are irrelevant if the goal is noble. Vance’s statements echo this same philosophy, essentially shrugging off allegations of a war crime by expressing his complete indifference to the matter. With the vice president and the president both essentially saying they don’t care about the legalities, we can probably expect more of this kind of action in the future.