Republicans are very, very concerned about drugs being smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico. And they are right to be concerned. But what do they plan to do about it?
Apparently “going to war with Mexico” is the Number One plan. David Frum has an article at the Atlantic (which I can’t read, because I didn’t renew my Atlantic subscription, sorry) in which he calls “being willing to go to war with Mexico” the new “litmus” test for a “serious” Republican candidate.
They don’t plan to declare war on the government of Mexico, mind you, but they do want to send U.S. troops across the border to attack the cartels who are responsible for a lot of the drug smuggling. Apparently this remarkably stupid idea is not new, but it’s just now coming to my attention. Here is a May 2023 Reason magazine article about what several Republican contenders for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination are saying about sending troops into Mexico. Note that even Reason thinks this is a bad idea.
And a lot of them, including Ron DeSantis, want to use “deadly force” against migrants who might be bringing drugs across the border in their backpacks. In fact, I notice you can’t have a conversation with a Republican about drug smuggling before it veers off into a diatribe into all those migrants. One suspects this is what is really bugging them. The drug thing is just an excuse to shoot at brown people.
U.S. officials say that most of the drugs being smuggled by the cartels are crossing the border at official entry points like ports and are hidden in cars and tractor-trailers. so shooting at the brown people wading across the Rio Grande isn’t going to discourage the drug cartels any. But try explaining that to a Republican presidential candidate.
DeSantis doesn’t want to stop with sending troops across the border. He also wants to use the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard to block Chinese ships from reaching Mexican ports. Most of the component drugs required to make fentanyl are shipped into Mexico from China. Yeah, that wouldn’t possibly have any another international repercussions, would it?
DeSantis also has promised to end birthright citizenship if he becomes POTUS, which of course a POTUS cannot do. One assumes DeSantis knows this.
None of these people are ready for prime time. Consider, for example, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, While interviewed by Hugh Hewitt, clearly drew a complete blank when asked about the Uyghurs. Which is pronounced WEE-gurs. He seems to have thought Hewitt was joking. Suarez has declared his candidacy for the presidency. Seriously?
The Uyghurs, of course, are a Muslim minority group in China, and the government of China is oppressing them brutally. Having decided that China Is Bad (and I won’t argue), the Right is outraged that the Uyghurs are being oppressed. But if Uyghurs were here, the Right probably would would want to shoot them.
I seem to remember Boebert or MTG – don't remember which – filed articles of impeachment against Joe Biden – one of the articles was what they perceived to be failure to protect the border. The biggest fraidy-cats / cowards ever.
All I can say, is with DeSantis flaming out, Trump likely getting tons of bad publicity as his numerous trials get underway, that Joe Biden has a good shot at a 2nd term. I hope I haven't jinxed it.
"I hope I haven't jinxed it."
I doubt you have, it is mainly up to us to ensure the public understands all the good things Joe (and most Democrats) are responsible for.
About fentanyl. Typical "Republican" thinking to block something, rather than spend one tenth the money to help those who feel they need it, drying up the demand. Hardly "conservative" in their thinking.
Two republicans walked into a bar. As luck would have it, they sat next to me. What a joke. It did not take long, and they began to spew misinformation and propaganda. One left my end of the bar when I called BS on him, but the other one stayed. They did not talk of sending troops into Mexico, but I learned a few interesting other things. Fox is no longer a good enough news source, and he was quick to mention a source I never heard of and can't remember as the newly anointed fountain of drivel. Of course, he did not call it that. I also learned that they object to be called ditto-heads. This worked well as I got to get him to talk about his independent thoughts. In the process he self- identified as a conservative and I mentioned Liz Cheney as also self-identifying as conservative and asked if he saw things her way. He quickly responded he did not and called her a RIMO. Just the kind of response you would expect from a ditto-head, I thought but went elsewhere. I asked him instead if he was sure if Liz Cheney was not right and he might be the true RINO. You could almost hear the gears grinding in his head. We soon after shook hands, smiled, and called it quits.
So the moral of the story? The chances of this wing of the party coming together with a sensible idea is probably nil. That just leaves crazy ideas and sending our armed forces into a neighboring Sovreign country under any pretense…now how would that look to even our allies much less the others. For republicans to error in their thinking is now a tabu at least for the pro-Trump wing. Trump is infallible in all matters, political or not. To deny his authority, even on flush toilets, is heresy and merits you a RINO pigeonhole. This kind of puts the party into boxes. In boxes you cannot govern from because sensibility is not allowed into most of these boxes. And all these boxes have NO RINOS ALLOWED on their doors. And everyone in the box is an infallible keeper of that rule.
Kudos for having such a conversation and even better, shaking hands as you parted. Without more of that, the USA is doomed; reviving the ability to talk across political divides is a necessary – but not sufficient – ingredient for Democracy.
IMO, you're forgetting that what GOP candidates say is almost all Kayfabe – WWE bluster designed to excite watchers – and has almost no relationship to what they will do in office. Well, at least that's true for traditional Big Money Republicans. Trumpists have taken over some State Parties, and the MAGAts they elect *intend* to do all the crazy stuff they blab about, but the don't have the intellect, attention span, or organisational ability to actually get anything done, so it's still pretty much true of them.
So you have the brainwashed-for-40 years masses, the hard core MAGAts, versus the Money Boys (the Koch Brothers, et. al.). The latter helped create the former, but the money guys recognize Trump can't win the general, and they're running ads to that effect. They need to vault their candidate (whoever that is, Pence?) and re-program the masses to vote for him/her. Gonna be interesting.
Two sides to the fentanyl problem. First, it's huge – 70,000 overdose fatalities in 2021. It's outstripping all the opioid competition. Deaths per 100,000 is highest in KY, followed by DC. So you won't find a direct social or racial connection. Some liberal states rank high – TX astoundingly low. I'd like to see objective analysis based on the victim's point-of-entry into fentanyl but I suspect it begins with treatment for pain, which turns into abuse of Rx medication, which turns into addiction and a hard turn into cheap synthetic options. But that's a myth until supported by objectively collected statistics. The most effective point of intervention if the myth is fact, is heavily enforced monitoring of patients who are prescribed pain medication.
Make doctors look for any indications that necessary prescription is sliding into abuse and addiction. The big "pusher" (my opinion) has been big pharma, not Mexico. I'd pass a law that requires the doctor who prescribed painkillers to a person who dies of an overdose to go to the funeral. Every time. And keep public stats on how often a doctor is going to funerals.
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The flip side of the issue is what Maha wrote about. MAGAs want to use a serious problem as a very un-serious excuse to flex their muscles. (Solving the problem of legitimate use sliding into abuse, then addiction can't be solved with the military,) Democrats need to engage on the problem which will require finesse rather than force if solving the problem is the objective.
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If I was a cynic, I’d wonder if the MAGA objection is to Mexicans profiting from addiction rather than big pharma profiting from addiction.
"Reason Magazine"
Boy could they have thought of a name for that useless rag that was more irreconcilable? Seems to me that at least the chemicals coming from China can be solved using high level diplomacy and economic sanctions, tell China to cease or we slap some serious tariffs on imported goods? This country has a drug problem but it doesn't originate in Mexico or any other country, the problem is right here at home.
SCOTUS shit canned affirmative action today. The idea of a colorblind nation is certainly ideal but it just isn't a fact. What President Biden and the democrats should do in response (tomorrow) is to introduce some simple easy to read (for the magats) legislation that will ensure that every child in this country has the exact same amount of money spent on their k-12 public education. All state and federal money should be distributed equally across the board based solely on population, colorblind just like they like it! If the GQP wants a level playing field then let them have one. My hometown Gary, IN. has one lousy high school two middle schools and five elementary schools. The schools are ranked some of the lowest in the state and there are 70,000 people living there? The town I live in now Chesterton IN (five miles from Gary). Chesterton has one high school, three middle schools and five elementary schools they are some of the best schools in the area and we have 15,000 people living here. It's hard to find the data but I would venture a guess that at least five times more money is spent on each kid in Chesterton than in Gary, that's not colorblind. If we spent the same money on all kids k-12 then I would agree with SCOTUS that affirmative action wouldn't be needed in college admissions, the fact is that just isn't the case.
I think to make it clear its not about actually going to war against the government of Mexico, only going to war IN Mexico, they should give the idea a name like say I dunno maybe "War On Drugs" perhaps.
If I were a gambling man, I would make a good deal betting that Ron DeSantis knows next to nothing, not that it would make a rat's adze to his unwoke followers.
As for Suarez, it's just Uyghur, please.
No one defines woke, so let's just use the reasonable opposite, which is comatose. Desantis and his comatose followers. It works for me.
Of course ReoubliKKKLANSKKKonservatives would look to shoot the poor Uyghurs!!!
They ain't White.
They ain't Christian.
More than half will be women.
And there may be LGBTQ+/- people among them!
Hint to RepubliKKKLANS/KKKonservatives:
If "Reason" tells you something is a bad idea, and you don't listen..
Oy…