MSNBC ventured into strikingly speculative territory on Friday night, with guests on Deadline: White House suggesting that President Donald Trump could potentially use the U.S. military as a personal instrument of power to target or even kill individuals of his choosing — including Americans.
The discussion came after the Pentagon approved the deployment of the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the U.S. Southern Command. The move, according to defense officials, is intended to increase pressure on Venezuela and counter the operations of transnational drug cartels across South America.
During the broadcast, host Alicia Menendez framed Trump’s order as a possible overreach of presidential authority, questioning whether such a decision might violate international law.
“Even the fact that there are officers who are having that conversation tells you about the five-alarm fire that we are in,” Menendez said. “Because the Trump administration claims they can lawfully kill people simply because they are suspected of drug trafficking like enemy troops, instead of arresting them for prosecution. Does that match your understanding of the law?” she asked guest Tom Nichols, a staff writer for The Atlantic.
Nichols responded, “No, not American law and not international treaties to which we are a signatory.”
He went on to accuse the president of asserting sweeping, extrajudicial powers. “The American president has said, ‘I can point the U.S. military any place I want and kill anyone I want.’ That eventually is going to become a principle in the domestic use of the military,” Nichols said.
Nichols further alleged that Trump’s actions reflect a broader and deeply concerning trend of normalizing the use of military force for political or personal gain.
“He is acclimating people to the notion that the military is his private army — unconstrained by law, unconstrained by norms, unconstrained by American traditions,” Nichols claimed. “I don’t really think this has anything to do with drugs.”
Nichols also hinted at darker motivations behind Trump’s recent orders, speculating that the president might be using such moves to divert public attention away from scandals and sensitive issues. “Sometimes I wonder how far he’s going to go to stop the release of the Epstein files and how many distractions he’s going to throw at us,” Nichols said.
“This is about getting out from under his already dismal record, his record low approval ratings, his struggling with a scandal,” Nichols continued. “And he is now saying, ‘I am going to acclimate the American public to the use of military force anywhere I deem it appropriate under any circumstances.’”
Nichols also warned that Trump may be laying the groundwork for a wartime political strategy heading into the next election cycle. “The president may be thinking, ‘I may well have us in a war by the time the elections roll around, which will enable me to say any opposition to me and my party is basically treason and unpatriotic,’” he said.
Despite such claims, recent polling suggests that many Americans still believe Trump is living up to his campaign pledges. CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten noted in an Oct. 7 report that 52 percent of voters think the former president is fulfilling his 2024 promises.
Menendez expressed full agreement with Nichols’ assessment, responding, “Tom Nichols, your brain and my brain have gone to the exact same place.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to intensify its focus on international narcotics operations. Drug traffickers have increasingly relied on elaborate and deceptive tactics to evade U.S. surveillance — including the use of commercial shipping routes, low-flying aircraft, and smaller maritime deliveries designed to move narcotics undetected.
In response to those developments, the administration dispatched naval forces to the southern Caribbean in August, shortly after designating several Latin American cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. U.S. bombers have since conducted patrols near Venezuelan airspace as a visible show of strength and deterrence.
Defense analysts have cautioned that the escalating U.S. pressure campaign against Venezuela could risk sparking a wider regional conflict, potentially drawing Washington into prolonged military engagement in South America.
The administration has also expanded its focus to Colombia. In a recent move, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro — a decision announced just days after Petro publicly called for Trump’s removal from office.
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