Following the Trump administration’s strikes on a boat alleged to be smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea, one of the U.S.’s most important international intelligence alliances has been upended. On Tuesday night, Rachel Maddow offered a humorous comparison to illustrate just how “bad” it is now.
Appearing on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Maddow explained how the United States is part of an alliance known as the “Five Eyes.” The group consists of the U.S., the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and has existed since World War II. But, after the defense department ordered a second strike to kill two survivors last week, the UK has decided to stop sharing their intelligence in the Caribbean.
“They’ve effectively pulled out of the Five Eyes, the most important intelligence alliance in the world, which we have had since World War II, because we are so obviously breaking the law, they’re afraid they’ll go to jail for having anything to do with us,” Maddow said. “That’s bad.”
“That’s like when your friends say, ‘I can’t hang out with you anymore, I’m on probation,’” she continued.
According to Maddow, the UK is significantly afraid of being charged with murder and/or war crimes. And they aren’t the only alliance that the U.S. is losing.
Elsewhere in the interview, Colbert noted that other European allies have stopped giving the U.S. intelligence on Ukraine, for fear that Trump will hand it straight to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Maddow readily agreed, calling it an “embarrassment.”
“The idea we work for him, that we work for them, is so humiliating, and such an abject failure on the part of Trump, in terms of his weakness,” Maddow said. “I don’t know what Putin has on him, but he works for Putin and it’s an embarrassment to this country.”
You can watch part of Maddow’s appearance on “The Late Show” in the video above.
