“Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge people with equity? No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth.” (Psalm 58:1-2)

To date, the Trump administration has unleashed at least 17 strikes against boats suspected of transporting drugs, killing more than 70 people. They claim the boats were manned by drug trafficking narcoterrorists. They haven’t given evidence to support their claims. Instead of stopping the boats and arresting the crews, they launched missiles from a safe distance and killed (some would say murdered) everyone on board.

Vice President JD Vance posted that “Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military.” Republican Sen. Rand Paul criticized Vance’s statement as “a despicable and thoughtless sentiment” for glorifying “killing someone without a trial.” I couldn’t agree more.

Senator Lindsey Graham, who claims to be a Christian, said he “feels good about [us] killing all the right people.” Is that what it takes for him to feel good––killing all the right people? Scripture says not to glory in the death of evil men (Prov. 24:17–18). And we don’t even know, as no evidence has been offered to prove that these were even evil men! Might some or all of them been innocent fishermen just working to feed their families?

One of the attacks had survivors. The president decided to have them repatriated to Colombia instead of putting them in military detention and giving them a trial. Wouldn’t that have been the right way to go about it? It’s called “due process.” I’m not given to conspiracy theorizing, but it sounds to me like someone has something to hide. Even if they were who he says they were, as far as I know, we don’t execute drug dealers, with or without due process.

I’m told that the president authorizing lethal force without the approval of Congress is illegal and should be deeply disturbing to anyone with a conscience and a respect for the rule of law. In my view, this is not self-defense but murder. There’s a legal process to follow and their wrecking ball approach to solving the drug problem in America is not in compliance with it. Not to mention, that these assassinations have no chance of curbing the supply and demand of illegal drugs. It’s just another example of Trump’s conscienceless arrogance.

I agree with Russell Moore who said, “For Christians, these acts are a moral problem and a theological problem, not just a constitutional one.” Mike Cosper added, “The question we must ask is, What kind of government do we want to be living with? Do we care about the expectation of accountability? Those who say the system was broken are right, but due process and precedent matter. God made all human beings in his image.”

Before anyone accuses me of being soft on crime and actual criminals, especially drug traffickers, I’ve probably had had more interaction with street addicts and their dealers than almost anyone reading this. Believe me, I’ve seen a lot of things I’d rather unsee. I hate what drugs do to God’s beloveds, and want convicted dealers and traffickers to be punished to the furthest extent of the law. Not to mention that for a number of years as an advocate for a safe house for human trafficking survivors I was privy to stories of the despicable treatment inflicted by traffickers on women and children. I want justice for those victims, and the victimizers to be punished to the extent the law allows. But it’s the law, not a hunch or hearsay that matters.

But these assassinations are yet another demonstration of the abuse of power by our president. We have systems in place to restrain that power making it harder for abuse to occur. The people who are actually “soft” are those in congress and the president’s cabinet and his advisors who are terrified to cross him and tell him when he’s wrong. The problem lies in the feckless lawmakers and law keepers who are afraid to hold the president accountable.

As a Christian first and an American, I’m appalled. I’m not surprised, though, since this is what many of us saw coming a decade ago and warned our friends and families to stay clear of Donald Trump. But here we are.

May God have mercy on the United States of America and on anyone who happens to be in our bully president’s way.

“Hear the word of the Lord to you, king of Judah… Do what is just and right… Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.” (Jeremiah 22:2-3)