“Fentanyl is destroying our country.”
The promise
During December 2025, Trump supported treating fentanyl trafficking as a national-security threat rather than only a criminal-justice issue. The proposal sought to elevate the response to fentanyl by using authorities normally associated with major national-security threats. Supporters argued that fentanyl deaths had reached such a scale that extraordinary measures were justified. Critics argued that the legal definition of a weapon of mass destruction was not designed for narcotics and that the approach risked expanding executive powers. The proposal was part of a broader anti-cartel and anti-fentanyl agenda. It attracted significant media attention because of the unusual terminology. Implementation would require coordination between law-enforcement, intelligence, defense, and regulatory agencies. The proposal represented a significant escalation in rhetoric and policy. By June 2026, parts of the strategy were being implemented but the broader concept remained under review.
