As the U.S. Navy continues to blow up drug boats off the Venezuelan and Colombian coasts headed north, the left is still yelling about President Trump's so-called 'death toll,' sometimes claiming that the dead drug lords from the semi-submersibles and speedboats are just 'innocent fishermen' whom he's killing without rhyme or reason.

Here's Axios:

The U.S. has now conducted at least 13 strikes and killed at least 57 people in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. But beyond announcing the strikes and releasing several videos of boats exploding, the administration has provided next to no information about who has been killed and on what  evidence.

The Times-Union calls these acts 'extra-judicial killings' and 'homicides on the high seas.' 

Democracy Now! writes 'so-called drug boats.'

The Center for American Progress calls the matter 'a dangerous, illegal abuse of wartime power.'

Leftist politicians call it 'sanctioned murder.' Sen. Mark Kelly claims the Senate's evidence "does not back up" the rationale for the strikes, and the strikes make us 'less safe.'

It's just a few drug dealers heading north to our shores to spread poison, being taken out.

Now Brazil's leftist president, Luiz Inacio 'Lula' da Silva has decided to demonstrate what a real drug-lord death count looks like.

According to NPR:

RIO DE JANEIRO — About 2,500 Brazilian police and soldiers launched a massive raid on a drug-trafficking gang in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, arresting 81 suspects and sparking shootouts that left at least 60 suspects and four police officers dead, officials said.

The operation included officers in helicopters and armored vehicles and targeted the notorious Red Command in the sprawling low-income favelas of Complexo de Alemao and Penha, police said.

The latest revised toll is 132.

So Lula's death toll tops that of all of Trump's boat strikes put together, taking out the drug lords oppressing the favelas.

The death toll was high because the drug dealers fired back with military grade weapons, drones and explosives:

Do Trump's critics have something to say about this one?

Where's their rhetoric? Where's their lament about 'fishermen?'

The reality is, they're all going after the drug dealers, the cartel foot soldiers who are delivering death, violence and destruction to our shores and theirs.

The crime has happened for too long and the punishment has been AWOL. Now harder methods are employed, because both leaders are demanding results. 

After all, the libertarians and the lefties have been saying for years that the drug war has failed. Everyhone agrees with that. But they call for an end to any law enforcement and an onslaught of social workers as a solution. We have seen how that goes in our chaotic blue cities. Now these leaders are all going the other way, trying a much tougher approach.

Some observers have pointed out that Lula is copying the El Salvador model for Brazil, taking a tough-as-nails approach to drugs to make the country safe for everyone else as El Salvador did. 

Specifically, it's called 'Bukele' -- like this:

There's more to this if Brazil wants to be effective -- such as removing corrupted judges, which is a tall order for Brazil, and getting drug influence out of government, which, as opposition leader Jair Bolsonaro's team has noted, is why cities are ruled by drug lords in Brazil but not in Europe. In the De Luca tweet, there are questions as to whether Lula or his governor are really onboard.

But if it's followed through, it's a good start. Trump, Lula, and many more leaders are following the Bukele lead. That's a major change in global culture. But Trump in particular deserves credit for this. Had Trump not been blowing up drug boats in the Caribbean, it never would have triggered this kind of wave we are seeing now, likely to be followed by other drug-plagued countries.

Maybe the Democrats whining about this can get a clue.

Image: X video screen shot