In the Caribbean, close to Venezuela, President Donald Trump has been deploying made-up characters to defend his controversial military attacks on suspected drug-trafficking vessels. Approximately 25,000 people are killed by every boat, Trump claimed in a speech last week. In a speech on Sunday, he claimed that each of those boats was to blame for the deaths of 25,000 Americans and the dissolution of families.
In a meeting with Canada’s prime minister at the White House on Tuesday, he stated, “I think we saved at least 100,000 lives, American lives, Canadian lives by taking out all those boats coming in.”
Approximately 82,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2024, according to preliminary federal data. The number doesn’t reach 100,000 even when documented opioid and stimulant deaths from Canada are included.
In other words, Trump is basically saying that his choice to target a few boats in the Caribbean—at least four US strikes have occurred since the start of September avoids more than a year’s worth of fatalities. Carl Latkin, a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s school of public health who also holds a joint appointment at its medical school, called the president’s numbers “ridiculous.
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