United States President Donald Trump met with his Cabinet on Tuesday for the last time this year. This was the ninth time he had done so since returning to power for the second time, and the stage was familiar. All its members listened to the exaggerated review, full of lies, of what had been achieved in these eleven months, and laughed with heartfelt thanks, before launching into praise of the leader (“the best government in history for the best president in history,” as Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, summed up). Before that, too, came the turn of journalistic questions, against which the Republican launched his usual attacks.
Uncertainty over what decision Trump made (if he made one) regarding a possible attack in Venezuela hung over the meeting. “We will start with ground attacks,” the president warned toward the end of a meeting that lasted more than two and a half hours. “It will be much easier that way. We know where they are, and what routes they take.” He added that the goal is to “put an end to the sons of bitches,” referring to drug traffickers in the South American country. He said: “These people killed 200,000 Americans last year,” exaggerating official data on overdoses in 2024 in his country.
In addition to the president, all eyes were on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who on Friday was accused by a newspaper investigation of ordering a second attack on an alleged drug boat in international waters in the Caribbean on September 2, which members of Congress of both parties consider tantamount to eliminating a wounded, unarmed combatant and thus a war crime. “We’ve just started attacking drug ships and sending drug terrorists to the bottom of the ocean to poison the American people,” Hegseth, seated to the president’s left, said when it was his turn.
On Monday, the White House confirmed the second attack, which led to the death of two survivors of the first strike. Thus the number rose to 11 dead. Spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt confirmed the order to Adm. Frank Bradley, head of Special Forces Command, in what was clearly a disclaimer from the Pentagon chief. Hegseth later said on his X account that he supports this decision and that he maintains his confidence in the military man.
This Tuesday, he insisted on supporting his subordinate, and explained that although he directly followed the attack, at a certain moment he got up “on his way to the next meeting,” so he was not present, he said, while the second bombing occurred. Hegseth spoke of an interval of “more than an hour.”
He added, “The press does not understand that these decisions are made in the fog of war,” citing his past as a soldier. “Admiral Bradley made the right decision to sink the ship and eliminate the threat. We support him, and the American people are safer because drug terrorists know that drugs cannot be transported by sea, or by land if necessary. We have eliminated this threat and we are proud that we did it.”
The defense secretary, a former Fox News host, on Tuesday bragged at a Cabinet meeting about the success of his campaign on extrajudicial executions in the Caribbean. He added that the entry of drugs by sea had decreased “by 91%,” although he did not provide evidence to support these estimates. “We had to stop (the attacks), because we can’t find any other ships (sailing through the Caribbean) at the moment,” he said proudly.
Cost of living that ‘democratic trick’
Trump had opened the meeting by defending his economy, which, according to opinion polls, is considered the greatest weakness of his presidency a year after his election. That’s thanks in large part to his aggressive tariff policy, which the Republican defended enthusiastically on Tuesday. In recent weeks, the cost of living has become their big problem.
These criticisms were dismissed as a “Democratic hoax” by the President of the United States, a party that won major electoral victories in early November with a commitment to improving the domestic economy for voters. That statement was further evidence of Trump’s confidence in the power of his words to avert conflict: It is risky to assume that Americans, seeing the progress of the economy in their pockets, will buy into the idea of the “Democratic hoax.”
Afterwards, Trump spoke enthusiastically about the reforms he had ordered in the White House; He defended that Washington is now a safe city thanks to the deployment of the National Guard, two members of which were shot last week. He said he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. He had a good time celebrating what he described as unbeatable health, which he compared to that of his predecessor Joe Biden, while doubts grow about the longest-serving president’s ability to maintain the frenetic pace of work in recent months.
“Is Trump healthy?” He asked himself, before making way for his allies, during whose interventions he sometimes struggled not to sleep. “I sit here and have four press conferences a day. I answer the questions of smart crazy people like you (referring to the press). And I give them the right answers that solve their little problems. There’s never a scandal. There’s never a problem.”
The meeting came hours after Trump broke his own records for social media use on Monday evening. He sent 93 messages on his Truth platform, between 11:00 p.m. (Washington time) and midnight. It was a series of posts on various topics, of no great interest, and many of them contained repetitive ideas.