I mean it. Donald Trump and a growing chorus of Republican parliamentarians in both houses of Congress are proposing to attack Mexico's drug cartels militarily, including by bombing, and even if the Mexican government does not cooperate in the operations. The objective is to stop at all costs the entry of fentanyl into the United States.
The ultra leader already proposed before bombing the large narcotics production centers in the neighboring nation. It was in the year 2020, the last of his term. The then ruler asked his defense secretary, Mark Esper, about the possibility of "launching missiles into Mexico to destroy drug laboratories" ... and doing it in secret. Esper ignored the suggestion, which he would unveil two years later in his book, A Sacred Oath.
Trump did not comment on the disclosure. But a week ago the chairman of the Oversight Committee of the House of Representatives, Republican and Trump supporter James Comer, confirmed that, indeed, his leader "ordered to bomb a couple of fentanyl and crystal methamphetamine laboratories in Mexico but, For whatever reason, the military didn't." And he added that in his opinion that resignation "was a mistake."
Comer expressed that view during an interview on Fox and Friends. The presenter asked him "what are we waiting for to use our military force now" to put an end to the cartels. And the congressman responded: “That is a great question that we continue to ask Joe Biden.”
In fact, representatives of the same party Dan Crenshaw and Mike Waltz introduced a bill in January that seeks authorization for the use of the military to "put us at war with the cartels that are causing the fentanyl crisis."
This crisis is not negligible. Fentanyl, an opioid 100 times more powerful than morphine and 50 times more powerful than heroin, caused the overdose deaths of some 80,000 Americans in 2022, when fewer than 60,000 Americans died in the entire Vietnam War. Over the past year, police and Drug Enforcement Administration agents have seized 379 million deadly doses of fentanyl (two milligrams is enough to kill a person); that is to say, a quantity sufficient to exterminate the entire population of the country, of 332 million.
What is debatable, as well as shocking, are the approaches and the strategy that more and more Republicans defend to tackle such a crisis: “The cartels are at war with us and turn Mexico into a failed narco-state. It's time we took aim directly against him. Our legislation will put us at war with them by authorizing the use of military force to combat them,” Rep. Crenshaw reasoned in defending his bill. And he added: "We must start treating them like the Islamic State," that is, as terrorists "because that is what they are."
In the Upper House, Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and John Kennedy presented their own proposal in early March to also "give the military the authority to go after these organizations wherever they are." "Not to invade Mexico," Graham said, "not to shoot down Mexican planes, but to destroy the drug laboratories that are poisoning Americans."
Trump, fully immersed in the campaign for his re-election – in addition to preparing his defense against the legal cases that are pending – has been asking his advisers for military options to attack the drug traffickers south of the Rio Grande. And one of the contributions that he has focused on is a document from the conservative Center for Renewing America that would serve as a roadmap for the US president and commander-in-chief to "formally declare war against the cartels"; if possible “recruiting the Mexican government in joint operations,” but with a caveat: “It is vital that Mexico not be led to believe that it has veto power to prevent the US from taking the necessary steps to secure its borders and its people".
The White House announced yesterday new measures and tougher sanctions against drug traffickers to combat fentanyl trafficking. But Biden and the head of the army, General Mark Milley, disagree with the ideas of Trump and his people. “I wouldn't recommend doing anything without the support of Mexico,” says Milley. It seems out of the box, since otherwise it would create a serious bilateral conflict. Another thing is that Donald Trump cares.
