Top Democrat Defends Drug Smugglers, “They’re Just Businessmen”

Senator Jack Reed has managed to do the impossible, which is lowering already rock bottom expectations for how Democrats talk about national security. This time, the Rhode Island Democrat went on CNN with Dana Bash for what felt like a guided meditation on how to excuse narco terrorists. While the country is drowning in fentanyl deaths and the southern border is turning into an all you can cross corridor for cartel operatives, Reed thought now was the perfect moment to reassure America that these are not hardened criminals but simply poor souls “trying to make money.”

INSANE

Democrat Jack Reed dismisses criminals smuggling illegal drugs into the U.S. as not "narco-terrorists," just people trying to make money.

"Usually, people are not significantly involved…It's the way they make money." pic.twitter.com/8xIrMG1mtn

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 2, 2025

Nothing screams moral clarity like treating drug runners as if they wandered onto a boat by accident on their way to find part time work. Reed delivered this line while discussing Operation Southern Spear, which is one of the few efforts finally showing some teeth. Under Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the operation has taken out multiple narco boats carrying drugs that would have ended up on American streets. Last month, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out a lethal strike on a vessel run by a Designated Terrorist Organization. United States Southern Command spelled it out clearly in an X post. “Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco trafficking route, and carrying narcotics. Three male narco terrorists aboard the vessel were killed. The vessel was trafficking narcotics in the Eastern Pacific and was struck in international waters.”

Pretty straightforward. A terrorist run narco boat moving poison toward the United States was eliminated before it destroyed more American families. You would think anyone with a pulse would understand that. Instead, Reed treated the situation like a sociology lecture. When Bash pressed him on why he opposed strikes that treat drug runners like the terrorists they are, he drifted into a monologue about American “demand” and how smugglers are simply pawns. “Most narco traffickers are not in those boats. They pay people to do that. Usually, people are not significantly involved with narco traders. It’s the way they make money,” he said.

Then he pivoted to the classic Democrat solution. Spend more. “We should spend a lot more resources on law enforcement in the United States. They’re actually cutting that back in terms of federal intervention and also medical care and therapy that will get people off drugs.”

Reed’s message was unmistakable. Blame America. Pity the traffickers. Soften enforcement. And ignore the fact that narco terrorists respond only to force, not feelings. This is exactly why the country needed Operation Southern Spear in the first place.