President Donald Trump, in a mix of humor and hardline policy, reportedly used a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday to both needle the press and underscore his administration’s determination to confront violent gangs.
“I’ll tell you, they showed one scene where a bunch of Tren de Aragua guys or whatever, maybe MS-13, maybe, maybe MSDNC, okay? Because to me they’re worse. I think they’re worse. MSNBC, maybe is worse than Tren de Aragua. Real scum, real scum! Real dishonest people,” Trump said to chuckles around the table.
The president’s swipe at MSNBC, which he mockingly renamed “MSDNC,” came as he recalled footage of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. “They weren’t nice to this group of people. The gang was calling them, sir. ‘Yes sir, yes sir. Get out of here! Get the hell out of there, you’re no good, get out of here!’ These are people that beat up people all day long. And they’re calling these soldiers, that’s what they are, they’re real soldiers, there’s no games.”
Trump contrasted that with scenes of U.S. service members being forced to endure spitting and screaming from activists during demonstrations in past years. “They used to spit in the face of the soldiers, with the soldiers standing like this. And you’d have some guy, or some woman sometimes screaming at them from one inch away. They’re told you cannot do anything. And they start spitting, actually spitting in their face. And I said, ‘You spit, we hit.’ And they’re totally authorized to do all of those things.”
But beneath the jokes and anecdotes lay a serious policy shift.
On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order officially designating MS-13 and Tren de Aragua as terrorist organizations—a move that gives federal agencies sweeping authority to dismantle the groups’ networks both inside and outside the United States.
“It is the policy of the United States to ensure the total elimination of these organizations’ presence in the United States and their ability to threaten the territory, safety, and security of the United States through their extraterritorial command-and-control structures, thereby protecting the American people and the territorial integrity of the United States,” the order declared.
The directive signals an aggressive escalation in America’s fight against transnational crime.
MS-13, long considered one of the most violent street gangs in the world, and Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan organization that has rapidly expanded its reach in the hemisphere, will now be treated as threats on par with foreign terrorist entities.
For Trump, who has long tied border security and immigration enforcement to the broader battle against organized crime, the announcement doubles as a reaffirmation of his promise to protect American communities.
While critics may bristle at his rhetorical jabs toward the media, his supporters see in his words a blunt recognition of the dangers facing the country—and a willingness to act decisively.
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