A U.S. official made a startling admission regarding the Trump administration’s ongoing military operation against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean — one that suggests the entire operation is a ruse.
As the U.S. war against Iran continues to dominate news headlines, the Trump administration’s boat bombings in the Caribbean have continued and, in recent months, quietly ramped up, killing at least 221 people as of late May. Accused of being illegal by several legal scholars and lawmakers, the operation — according to the Trump administration — is designed to halt the flow of narcotics to the United States.
However, according to one U.S. official who spoke with Zeteo under the condition of anonymity, the Trump administration “knows” the operation “isn’t working,” the outlet reported Monday.
“It’s murder for murder’s sake,” the U.S. official told Zeteo. “If the mission is to stop the flow of drugs into our country, I can’t find anyone in this building who believes this is helping.”
Another official, described by Zeteo as a “senior administration official,” told the outlet that some in the Trump White House have stopped asking for updates on the operation entirely.
“It sometimes seems like even the MAGA true-believers in government aren’t buying what they’re feverishly selling to the American public,” Zeteo reported.
“For instance, one senior administration official says that within the past several months, some White House officials who had previously asked for updates on these stats and numbers suddenly stopped asking for data on whether, as this official says, ‘it’s working.’ Because, the senior official adds, ‘people know it’s not actually designed to end the fentanyl crisis.’”
Recent data supports the officials’ claims. According to Customs and Border Protection drug seizure data, fentanyl interdiction was on track to drop by 6.3% in fiscal year 2026, a decrease described by Cronkite News as “too modest for critics to give [President Donald Trump] credit for solving the chronic problem.”
