For months now, Donald Trump has been attacking alleged drug boats in international waters using military assets.
This week, Trump suggested the possibility of land-based operations in countries like Venezuela and Mexico, where cartels are headquartered.
Mexico’s president just shot Trump down, but I am not sure that will matter all that much to the commander in chief.
The recent wave of strikes began in early September, and Trump has not slowed down despite some pushback from several notable Republicans on the matter.
For instance, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has repeatedly spoken out against the strikes, in essence accusing Trump of summary executions of alleged drug runners.
One of the biggest problems those pushing back against the strikes have had is that, despite claiming they have intelligence about the cargo of these boats, none of that intelligence has been made public.
Having said that, there have been briefings to the relevant House and Senate committees, and they seemed to quell some of the doubt about the legality of the strikes.
On Monday, Trump was discussing the strikes, breaching the topic of land-based attacks against cartels, including in Mexico.
Trump stated, “Would I launch strikes in Mexico to stop drugs? OK with me, whatever we have to do to stop drugs. Mexico is -- look, I looked at Mexico City over the weekend. There’s some big problems over there.”
He later added, “We’ve stopped the waterways, but we know every route. We know every route, we know the addresses of every drug lord. We know their address, we know their front door. We know everything about every one of them. They’re killing our people. That’s like a war. Would I do it? I’d be proud to.”
To be clear, I support this approach to fighting the drug trade, with my only concern being the legality of this and not wanting to see Trump or anyone involved in these strikes facing legal repercussions in the future.
If Trump truly wants to conduct land operations in Mexico, he will need the approval of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, but she just rejected the idea.
Sheinbaum does not have the best reputation when it comes to fighting back against the cartel, so it was no surprise to hear her response, "It’s not going to happen.”
One would think that if she truly wanted to rid her country of the cartels, she would welcome the help of the American military, but the cartel owns just about everything and everyone in the political world in that country.
Mexico is a sovereign nation, and any military activity conducted within its borders without approval could be considered an act of war. Trump has to step very carefully here.
