Trump wants war with Mexico

The U.S. government is sponsoring wars in Europe and the Middle East, and preparing for a possible war in East Asia. Some level-headed people in Washington recognize the futility, not to mention the immorality, of at least one or two of these conflicts.

Donald Trump (AP)

But Donald Trump wants to open a fourth front of war – a war with Mexico. This would be his solution to the fentanyl/opioid crisis in the United States. He is serious about it and has a lot of support in the Republican Party.

Radley Balko wrote a good article about this on his The watch blog. He showed that Trump’s plan (1) misdiagnoses the problem, (2) won’t work, (3) will quickly become a quagmire, and (4) will backfire.

Furthermore, this makes it impossible to cooperate with Mexico to control immigration at the southern border.

Balko pointed out that the US government has waged devastating and failed wars against drug cartels in Mexico and Colombia, with the consent of those governments.

The government of Mexico has stated that it will not allow US military operations on Mexican soil. This means that Trump’s proposal means that we will go to war with Mexico, a country that is not our enemy now.

The history of the “war on drugs” tells us that when the production of illegal drugs is stopped in one country or region, it starts up again somewhere else. When there is enough demand for something, and there is a large demand for drugs in the United States, someone will supply it.

In 2016, certain people I respect – Glenn Greenwald and Julian Assange, for example – thought there was at least a possibility that Trump would end some of America’s ongoing wars. He met with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, but what he did was cancel key nuclear disarmament treaties with Russia and increase military aid to Ukraine, while achieving nothing with North Korea.

Some well-meaning and otherwise intelligent people still have this illusion about Trump. They think he is perhaps less belligerent than Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. They do not pay enough attention to Trump’s past and his current statements.

LINKS

The Coming War with Mexico by Radley Balko. A thorough and readable analysis. (With thanks to Carl Iddings)

Donald Trump plans to send hit squads to Mexico to take out ‘drug lords’ by Raoul Simons for The Telegraph (London)

How Trump’s Idea to Use Military Force in Mexico Was Embraced by the GOP by Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, Charlie Savage and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega for the New York Times.

Why Trump and Other Republicans Want to Go to War with Mexico by Zach Beauchamp for Vox.

Tags: Donald Trump, Failed War on Drugs, Mexican Drug Cartels