Speaking with reporters at the White House Wednesday, President Donald Trump wasn’t playing games.
As the administration continues its battle of nerves with Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, Trump issued a broadside against another South American leader of a country with a long history of drug production for the U.S. market.
And as a threat, it was hard to mistake.
President Trump: “He’s gonna have himself some big problems if he doesn’t wise up. Colombia is producing a lot of drugs… He better wise up or he’ll be next… I hope he’s listening — he’s going to be next.” pic.twitter.com/nLMmqDYpkn
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 10, 2025
In fielding a question about whether he’d spoken to Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Trump said he hadn’t given the man a lot of thought lately, since Petro “has been fairly hostile to the United States.”
But as he warmed to the subject, the words got hotter.
“He’s going to have himself some big problems if he doesn’t wise up,” Trump said.
“Colombia’s producing a lot of drugs. They have cocaine factories. They make cocaine, as you know, and they sell it right into the United States. So he better wise up, or he’ll be next.
“He’ll be next, too.”
Then the president underscored the point.
“I hope he’s listening,” Trump said. “He’s going to be next.”
It wasn’t the first time Trump has telegraphed his distaste for the Colombian leader.
At a White House news briefing in October, Trump called Petro a “thug” who has “hurt his country very badly.”
The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan: “The president of Colombia in a recent interview said that if you won’t change, he thinks that people should get rid of you… Do you view that as a threat?”
President Trump: “He’s a thug and bad guy… He’s hurt his country very badly… He… pic.twitter.com/IA15V2aA8C
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) October 22, 2025
“He better watch it or we’ll take very serious action against him and his country,” Trump said.
Those are serious words, but they’re a step below, “He’s going to be next.”
Whatever the ending of Trump’s war of wills with Maduro, it’s clear that Trump already has his next target lined up in his crusade to end what the administration calls “narco-terrorists.”
If the regime in Bogota didn’t know it already, it got the word on Wednesday.
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