Invoking the Monroe Doctrine

Invoking the Monroe Doctrine by Daniel Gardner, Special to the Gazette

On December 2, 1823, President James Monroe declared his famous foreign policy during his annual message to Congress.

In essence the Monroe Doctrine opposed European colonization and intervention in America and the Western Hemisphere. It warned other nations not to interfere in political affairs of the Americas. The United States of America was born to be strongly independent.

The U.S. was fewer than 50 years old at the time and was not considered a military world power.

Since then, President Theodore Roosevelt formally asserted his own corollary expanding the doctrine to the whole Western Hemisphere.

President John F. Kennedy declared it during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

On December 2,

2025, President Donald J. Trump proclaimed his corollary saying, “I am proudly reasserting this time-honored policy. Since I took office, I have aggressively pursued an America first policy of peace through strength. We restored U.S. privileged access through the Panama Canal. We are reestablishing American maritime dominance. We are disrupting nonmarket practices in the international supply chain and logistics sectors.”

Then

President Trump cut to the chase: “My Administration is also halting the flow of deadly drugs flowing through Mexico, ending the invasion of illegal aliens along our southern border, and dismantling narco-terrorist networks all across the Western Hemisphere.”

Democrats and their cousins in the media have been attacking Trump unmercifully since the “war” escalated to blowing “fishing boats” out of the water.

Trump did not start this war. Narco-terrorists and drug cartels in Mexico and South America, aided by nations like China have interfered in our affairs at home by poisoning hundreds of thousands with fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. In response

President Trump invoked the Monroe Doctrine.

In 2023 105,000 people in America died of drug overdoses. This is the third highest drug overdose rate since 1999 when data became available according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl was involved in more overdose deaths than any other drug.

To win any war, patriots must stop the enemy. In this war narco-terrorists are our enemies. For years these terrorists simply crossed our open southern border. There were no serious efforts to stop the flow of drugs or human trafficking coming across the border by the Biden administration. The

Democrats and the media conspired to deny any such problems at the border, insisting the border was “closed” and “secure.”

One of the first acts of

President Trump was to close the border. That closure not only stemmed the flow if immigrants crossing the border illegally, but it also severely limited the flow of drugs. Then the terrorists and cartels found open passage via the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean.

President Trump ordered Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to stop the flow of drugs across those bodies of water.

Now the

Democrats and media are concerned how many terrorists our military might harm or kill in this action to defend American lives from threats of poisoning.

President Trump concluded his proclamation saying, “Reinvigorated by my Trump Corollary, the Monroe Doctrine is alive and well—and American leadership is coming roaring back stronger than ever before. “Today, we renew our pledge to always uphold American sovereignty, security, and safety first. Above all, we vow to protect our cherished national legacy of republican self-government against all threats, foreign and domestic.”