Trump Is Right. America Cannot Afford to Be Late Again

President Donald Trump is right about fentanyl, the border, and confronting threats early, and the cost of ignoring that truth is measured in dead American children.

As a Navy SEAL, I learned a lesson that is written in blood and my memory, not theory or politics. Threats are far cheaper to stop early than to fight later, when lives are already lost and families are already grieving. That lesson applies just as clearly to national security today as it did when I was on the battlefield.

Fentanyl is not simply a drug crisis. It is a weapon. It is killing American kids by the tens of thousands, devastating families and hollowing out communities across this country. More than 70,000 Americans die each year from synthetic opioids, with fentanyl driving the surge. When a substance is deliberately trafficked at scale into the United States, knowing it will kill, that is no longer just a public health issue. It is a national security threat, plain and simple.

Drug cartels who once exploited a broken border have turned their attention to unsecured maritime routes. They are moving poison the same way hostile actors move weapons, through established supply chains designed to overwhelm enforcement and maximize profit. In a single boat run, traffickers can move enough fentanyl to wipe out entire communities. Anyone who pretends this is merely a domestic law enforcement problem is ignoring reality.

President Trump understands what Washington often refuses to acknowledge. We can confront threats outside our borders, or we can wait until they arrive in our neighborhoods and schools. Waiting is not compassion. Waiting is weakness. And weakness costs lives.

Under President Trump's leadership, the United States is aggressively interdicting cartel shipments, enforcing sanctions, and disrupting trafficking networks. His administration is sending a clear message that America will no longer tolerate open supply lines for poison. This approach is not theoretical. It works because deterrence works when it is backed by resolve.

I would rather see cartel supply routes shut down offshore than attend another funeral for a child who never had a chance. That is not a radical position. It is a moral one.

If you are a parent, this debate is not abstract. It is the difference between your child coming home from school or being exposed to a poison they never chose. Government exists first to protect life, and any system that fails to do that has already failed its most basic duty.

The threat does not exist in isolation. Venezuela's regime is deeply intertwined with narco networks, and illegal oil shipments are helping bankroll the same criminal organizations that are poisoning American families. When illegal oil money flows to narco regimes, it does not stay overseas. It funds the same pipelines that push fentanyl into American cities and suburbs.

The naysayers are already complaining. They tell us to be patient. They urge us to trust the process whatever that is. These are the same voices who presided over open borders, record overdose deaths, and years of denial until the body count became impossible to ignore. Their outrage now rings hollow.

America First does not mean reckless force or endless wars. It means strength with purpose. It means deterrence instead of apology. It means enforcing the law, cutting off cartel money, and protecting families before it is too late, not offering explanations afterward for why nothing was done.

President Trump is right because he recognizes the stakes. Sovereignty matters. Enforcement matters. Strength matters. I would rather see cartel supply routes shut down offshore than attend another funeral for a child who had a chance. This is not a radical position, it is the only moral one.

We know what works. We know what fails. And we no longer have the luxury of pretending otherwise.

Jared Hudson is a former U.S. Navy SEAL, former deputy, businessman, and a current candidate for U.S. Senate.

Opinions expressed in the Alabama Gazette are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Alabama Gazette staff or publishers.