An exclusive report that President Donald Trump is on the verge of declaring “illicit” fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction was subjected to a thorough round of criticism as political observers pointed out the retro phrase and potential damages the executive order could have.
The draft memo began circulating among top Trump administration officials last week, including at the U.S. Departments of State, Defense and Justice, “The Handbasket” political newsletter reported Tuesday. It could be signed by Trump next week, the report added.
“The purpose is a combination of designating fentanyl cartels as terrorist organizations and creating justification for conducting military operations in Mexico and Canada,” The Handbasket's Marisa Kabas wrote, citing an unnamed source. “They also suspect that it will be used domestically as justification for rounding up homeless encampments and deporting drug users who are not citizens.”
The report also sent social media users to openly speculate about the true motives behind the latest Trump executive order altering American life just eight weeks into the new administration.
“Very excited to do 2002/2003 except somehow stupider and potentially more destructive,” New York Times opinion writer Jamelle Bouie wrote on Bluesky.
ALSO READ:'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs
“Trump to declare fentanyl as a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ to justify military ops in Mexico and Canada,” writer and political commentator Adam Schwarz told his Bluesky followers. “A classic authoritarian move to portray civilians as a security threat to justify disproportionate military responses.”
Journalist Max Granger theorized on X that the move was “presumably to justify US military intervention in Mexico.”
“Trump admin cares so much about fentanyl that they're working with Republicans to gut Medicaid, which ‘subsidizes a burgeoning industry of rehabilitation facilities and treatment centers in [Kentucky] that has one of the country’s highest rates of opioid abuse,’ Joe Sudbay, host of SiriusXM’s “State of the States,” pointed out on Bluesky.
"Interesting because hospitals stock and use fentanyl when all other painkillers fail," Bluesky user Tom MacFarlan wrote. "Speaking from experience on that. What are the chances hospitals stop using it or trump goes after "woke" hospitals (the ones that perform abortions) declaring their fentanyl illicit?”