The recent deaths of U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, at the hands of federal agents are, in and of themselves, tragedies. However, they are part of this administration’s efforts to murder democracy itself and its place as ‘leader of the free world.’ At least 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025 which is the highest number in two decades. A woman in Chicago was shot five times by an ICE agent who seemingly bragged about it to colleagues. She survived but the agent has not been investigated or held to account.
Not only is this administration murdering people on the streets of cities in the United States, there have been a spate of killings internationally, almost all of which have been condemned by other countries. At least 126 people were killed in the US attacks on boats in the Caribbean allegedly, with no supporting evidence provided, smuggling drugs into the US. The US undertook these killings in contravention of international law and, in fact, murdered some people who had survived the initial attacks which is a blatant violation of both international law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. More than 100 people were killed in the US operation to kidnap the president of Venezuela, Nicholas Maduro.
During the first year of the Trump administration, the United States dropped bombs on seven countries – Venezuela, Syria, Nigeria, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, and Somalia. It is difficult to know how many people were killed in each of these missions but it is certainly a substantial number. As I write this, a U.S. carrier battle group is steaming towards the Middle East and Trump is threatening to bomb Iran due to the ongoing anti-government protests going on in that country. That would certainly add to the body count tallied up by this administration since Trump took office.
Rumors abound that Trump and his toadies, particularly Marco Rubio, have desires on a regime change in Cuba now that they have kidnapped Maduro from Venezuela. How many lives will that cost? And what right does the Trump administration have to undertake such an operation? Will they make up yet another flimsy excuse under the umbrella of ‘national security,’ which seems to have become the catch all phrase for this administration.
Some of the ‘bombs and bullets’ that Trump is using may not result in physical blood loss but the use of economic bombs like overwhelming tariffs or withholding necessary aid can have the same deadly effect. Just like a carpenter with a hammer who views every problem as a nail, this administration views every problem as something that can be solved with bombs and bullets, real or economic.
The United States, with all its faults, was once deemed a model for democracy and held in relatively high regard as the leader of the free world. Now, under the Trump administration, the US has become nothing more than a global killing machine. No citizen is safe. No country is safe. The man who has been praised by some of his supporters and his egomaniacal self as being a great deal maker is really nothing more than a mob boss who is head of Murder Inc., formerly known as the United States of America.
