Border Battle: Trump & Vance vs Mexican Cartels - Is a "Military Solution" Coming?
Now that the election is over attention is shifting to the President-Elect's & Vice-President-Elect's stated intentions during their campaign to use U.S. military force against Mexico's cartels.
President Trump made his views clear in July during an appearance on Fox News' "Jesse Watters Primetime" when the show's host asked "Mexico — are strikes against the cartel still on the table?"
“Absolutely,” responded Trump.
"Mexico's gonna have to straighten it out really fast, or the answer (to questions about the U.S. military taking on Mexico's cartels) is absolutely. They're killing 300,000 people a year with fentanyl coming in." -Donald Trump (July 2024)
Trump's running-mate Vice-President-elect JD Vance - appearing on the program with the President-elect - said the Mexican government would support U.S. military action against the drug cartels because it’s destabilizing their country:
"They're not gonna be a real country anymore," Vance said. "They're gonna become a narco-state unless we get some control over this."
However Mexico's President at the time those remarks were made - Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador - repeatedly condemned the suggestion of U.S. military intervention in his country's affairs:
"We are not going to permit any foreign government to intervene in our territory, much less that a government's armed forces intervene. In addition to being irresponsible, it is an offense to the people of Mexico." -Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (March 9, 2023)
Vice-President-elect JD Vance amplified the incoming administration's calls for U.S. military action against Mexico's cartels during a campaign appearance in Tucson on October 22, 2024.
Speaking to the family in the audience of a U.S. Marine veteran who had been killed in Mexico by cartel gunmen just days before - Vance (himself a Marine veteran) vowed that he and Donald Trump would avenge his murder if elected:
"Here is my solemn promise to you ... I promise you, the cavalry is coming, and when Donald Trump is president, we're going to kick the cartels' asses and we're going to do it for you and for every person in this room." -Vice-Presidential Nominee J.D. Vance (October 22, 2024)
Vance told supporters attending his rally that - if elected Vice-President - he would encourage President Trump to deploy the U.S. military "to do battle" with the Mexican cartels:
"I think we've got hundreds of thousands of very fine Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen, who are pretty pissed off at the Mexican cartels. I think we'll send them in to do battle with the Mexican drug cartels, too." -Vice-Presidential Nominee J.D. Vance (October 22, 2024)
Mexico inaugurated a new president - Claudia Sheinbaum -on October 1, 2024. She has yet to comment on the issue.
Should the U.S. Military “do battle” with Mexican Cartels? Share your opinion in a comment to this article.
