Vance defends Venezuela strike, says ‘best use’ of military

Vice President JD Vance defended the U.S. strike that sank a Venezuelan drug boat and killed 11 suspected traffickers this week, arguing the action represented the proper mission of the US miliary.

“Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military,” Vance wrote Saturday on X. 

He followed up with a shot at Democrats: “Democrats: let’s send your kids to die in Russia. Republicans: actually let’s protect our people from the scum of the Earth.”

The comments came as allies on Capitol Hill warned of a broader threat. Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry said Saturday that Venezuela is acting as a “puppet state for Russia” and accused both nations of working together to flood the U.S. with fentanyl.

“Those are acts of war and we simply can’t just stand for it,” Perry told NewsNation.

President Trump also raised the stakes, warning this week Venezuelan jets would be “shot down” if they endanger U.S. warships.

Trump told reporters Friday in the Oval Office if Venezuelan jets fly over and put the U.S in a dangerous position “they’ll be shot down,”

Earlier in the week, American forces blew up a vessel carrying alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang Washington recently labeled a terrorist group. All 11 aboard were killed.

“Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The strike was followed by two Venezuelan F-16 flyovers of the USS Jason Dunham on Thursday — maneuvers the Pentagon blasted as “highly provocative.”

The White House continues to bolster its military presence in the region.

Ten F-35 stealth fighters are being deployed to Puerto Rico as the president cracks down on narcoterrorists, sources told The Post this week.

They will join eight Navy warships, as well as Tomahawk missiles, an attack submarine, several aircraft and more than 4,000 US sailors and Marines, anonymous sources told CNN.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed the mission “won’t stop with just this strike,” while Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised more smugglers would “face the same fate.”

Democratic critics have raised alarms. 

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he is reviewing whether the strike bypassed Congress, Politico reported, while human rights groups warned of possible violations of international law.

Vance brushed off those concerns after anti-Trump social media influencer and podcaster Brian Krassenstein called the strike a war crime, firing back on X: “I don’t give a s–t what you call it.”

Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro insisted his country is open to dialogue, but U.S. officials say his regime runs one of the world’s largest narco-trafficking networks. 

The Justice Department last month doubled its bounty for Maduro’s capture to $50 million.