Trump Supports Military Take-Down of Mexican Cartels

Former President Donald Trump said he backs a bill from Reps. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., and Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, that would authorize the U.S. military to take down Mexican drug cartels.

“I would do that,” Trump told Breitbart News when asked about the lawmakers’ recently-proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) legislation.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he is against the congressmen’s proposal and threatened to interfere in U.S. elections to help Democrats in response, Breitbart reports.

“In addition to being irresponsible, it is an offense to the people of Mexico,” Lopez Obrador reportedly said last month.

Calling the Mexican leader both a “gentleman” and a “socialist,” Trump said if he is returned to the White House he believes he and Lopez Obrador would find a way to work together to defeat the criminal drug enterprises.

“Certainly, I would deal with him,” Trump told Breitbart. “This is an invasion of our country — this isn’t just people walking over. This is an invasion. Many of these are people we do not want in our country. They’re very bad for our country. They’re very bad and dangerous. But this is an invasion of our country. Nope, we will stop it and we will stop it immediately.”

In a separate interview with Breitbart last month, Waltz said his legislation would authorize the use of space and cyber military assets.

“So, space assets for targeting,” Waltz said. “Our law enforcement and border entities don’t have their own space assets. The military does. Offensive cyber — as opposed to just defending our networks here at home, but actually getting inside somebody else’s networks and start disrupting their money, their logistics, their ability to communicate. That all sits inside the Defense Department. This would authorize the use of military force, but I think it’s more accurate to call it resources.”

The Florida congressman also said his measure would allow for U.S. special forces to launch limited strikes against cartel leadership.

“We’re not talking about an invasion of Mexico. That’s just a bunch of nonsense,” he said. “Could we be talking about very selective special operations targeting of key personnel or kill/capture? Yes, absolutely.”

“Again, we’ve got to begin thinking about them differently,” he continued. “In the ’90s, we were running around the world trying to arrest Al Qaeda. After 9/11, we were killing or capturing Al Qaeda. So that is the mindset and that is the actual authorization from Congress we’re trying to get passed for the administration.”

More within the GOP are supporting the idea of precision bombing in Mexico to stop fentanyl from coming across the border since Trump floated the idea of using “special forces” and “cyberwarfare” to target cartel leaders.

Late last month, Rolling Stone reported that the former president asked for “battle plans” to take on the Mexican cartels.