In a striking moment of political candor on MSNBC’s Chris Jansing Reports, Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, issued a chilling warning to the nation—one that underscored the legal, moral, and political tightrope the United States is walking in its expanding use of military force against alleged narco-terrorists.
The controversy erupted as reports emerged of the Trump administration authorizing military strikes on suspected drug boats in the eastern Pacific. These actions, carried out without much public explanation or judicial oversight, have been met with enthusiasm in certain conservative circles, particularly among MAGA supporters who view it as a tough-on-crime measure.
But Himes, in his interview, pulled back the curtain and offered a sobering critique. “We have not seen lists of the individuals who were targeted,” he noted, emphasizing the absence of transparency, due process, or even clarity around who was being targeted and why.
“We have not heard what the protections are, what the checks are, to make sure that these are, in fact, drug boats and not, you know, human trafficking or fishermen or whatever else they might be.”
This is not a minor legal quibble. What Himes is describing is a policy that potentially sanctions extrajudicial killings — lethal strikes carried out by the U.S. government without formal charges, trials, or the public accounting usually demanded in matters of military engagement or justice. And his warning was designed to transcend party lines.
The rhetorical pivot Himes employed — invoking a hypothetical President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — was not a throwaway line.
It was a deliberate illustration meant to force conservative voters, particularly those who celebrate strong-arm tactics under Trump, to imagine the same powers in the hands of a progressive firebrand. “Imagine who gets killed,” Himes said, if such unchecked power were applied by someone with radically different political aims.
And that is the essence of the alarm being raised. Himes argued that Republicans like Lindsey Graham are flirting with a dangerous precedent — one in which the rule of law is bent to the will of whoever holds power, so long as it aligns with their policy objectives or populist appeal.
“It’s a very, very dangerous path for this country to go down,” Himes warned.
