Trump is eager to breach Mexico’s sovereignty to attack cartels, officials say — just don’t call it an invasion

A new directive signed last week by President Donald Trump gives the Pentagon authorization to use military force against Latin American drug cartels designated as terrorist organizations, according to administration sources.

A U.S. official familiar with the matter confirmed to Rolling Stone certain details regarding the Trump-signed directive, which was first reported by The New York Times. Other knowledgeable sources, working in or close to this iteration of the Trump White House, say that unless Mexico gives Trump what he wants, this administration is serious about attacking its neighbor to the south. And according to administration officials and others familiar with the Trump administration preparations, it’s not a bluff: This American president wants to violently breach Mexico’s sovereignty — if and when he feels like it. He, after all, effectively campaigned on doing so during his 2024 bid.

Just don’t call any of this a plan for an invasion, U.S. government officials implore.

Speaking about the new directive, a senior administration official says, “It’s not a negotiating tactic. It’s not Art of the Deal. The president has been clear that a strike … is coming unless we see some big, major changes.”

  • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The DoD draws up attack plans on every country. I would be more surprised if this didn’t exist.

    • Aqarius@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, it’s practically an exercise for the operations people. The news is that there’s interest in putting it into action, not the plan itself.

      • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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        1 year ago

        Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump ignores those existing plans and just bum rushes the border, without any logistics whatsoever.

  • nymnympseudonym@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Imagine a timeline where the USA, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and the rest of the world’s democracies that at least try to be diverse, equitable, and inclusionary… were all working together to minimize friction among their liberalized economies and cultures.

    We’d be a spacefaring species within a generation or two.

    • Ledivin@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      So you just didn’t read the whole thing, or what?

      Speaking about the new directive, a senior administration official says, “It’s not a negotiating tactic. It’s not Art of the Deal. The president has been clear that a strike … is coming unless we see some big, major changes.”

  • Event_Horizon@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m going to paste here a comment I made from 10 months ago

    Ya know I realise this is complete conspiracy theory.

    However, I’m still willing to give a 2-5% chance that if Trump gets back into power, within the last 12-18 months of his presidency he’ll declare a special operation into North Mexico to ‘secure the border’, ‘stop the illegal immigrants’ and ‘remove the drug cartels’.

    Then he’ll claim it’s too dangerous to hold the election, or not appropriate, or whatever excuse because of the special operation. And then he’ll postpone the election with the approval of the SC as a presidential duty and therefore not illegal.

    And I know this is insane but every time I ask myself “would trump attempt something like this?” The answer is always “yes”

    • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      A) No one.
      B) Canada and a subsequent western coalition.
      C) Latin America and a surprise coalition.
      D) Some mix of the above.

      The thing is, Taiwan is probably going to get invaded if Trump invades Mexico.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’ve been hearing about the impending Chinese invasion of Taiwan since Dick Cheney started chewing on that bone in the 1990s.

        We’ve dropped bombs across half of North Africa since we started mainlining “Taiwan will be invaded”. We’ve manufactured five major famines - Haiti, Sudan/Ethiopia, Libya, Afghanistan, and Gaza - since then. We’ve toggled the “bankrupt Cuba through sanctions while we run a torture camp from the naval base on their island” switch at least twice since then. We’ve backed regime changes in Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, El Salvador, plus a couple failed ones in Venezuela and Chile since then. We’ve gerrymandered our own Congress three separate times since then.

        I gotta say… maybe it takes one to know one. But it’s not China the Taiwanese seem like they should be worried about. Just ask the folks in South Korea, who are cleaning up after their third near-reversion-to-dictatorship in twenty years, under reactionary presidents we supported. Or Indonesia and the Philippines, which seem unable to get out from beneath our proxies’ jack boots.

        • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Add to that the fact China hasn’t even TRIED to invade Taiwan since the separation in 1949. So it’s clearly a difficult task.

          But all of what you’ve said was before Xi came to power, he’s worked hard to knock out all serious competition for leadership in the party ranks to the point he’s able to extend his term indefinitely.

          …and I’m not saying he’s a bad leader. But he does seem more intent on this (rather difficult) goal than previous leaders …and it is a difficult goal, largely due to the cliff faces and wide marshy beaches.

          Which is why China recently developed large landing barges loosely based off some British WW2 technology (now with fold out bridges on them, to cross the beaches completely):

          https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2025/01/china-suddenly-building-fleet-of-special-barges-suitable-for-taiwan-landings/

          Should those prove effective when testing occurs later this year, it will greatly expand landing location. So there’s a bit of a technological arms race going on. Add in Ukraine proving the importance of drones in modern warfare and you have a technological landscape that makes previous difficult invasion plans more possible.

          All this said, I personally think that China’s claim over Taiwan is somewhat legitimate. Or at least more legitimate than Russian claims over Ukraine, or American claims over Mexico.

          Taiwan (which is just 150 kms off China’s coast) was a western backed dictatorship under the right wing KMT authoritarians for 25+ years, even today one of the two main parties is the “Chinese Nationalist Party” (the same party that ran the dictatorship)… Also Taiwan isn’t the official name of the country, it’s officially the Republic Of China… Which seems like, trolling.

          But yeah, I support democracies, and think China should be more democratic… I’d love it if Taiwan could be more democratic (change its name, kick out the KMT)… But yeah, seems more possible than ever that China can invade.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            The primary means by which the Chinese government has attempted to influence Taiwanese domestic politics has been diplomatic and economic. They’ve expanded their trade relations and increased foreign investments. They’ve relaxed travel restrictions and even subsidized the cost of travel between the island and the mainland.

            One of the recent flashpoints in China/Taiwan relations in recent years was in 2019 when the Hong Kong government implemented a program for extraditing Chinese nationals to Taiwan for criminal prosecution. This was in response to a grisly murder and subsequent flight from the law by the murderer. By attempting to repatriate Chan Tong-kai to Taiwan for the crime of murdering his pregnant girlfriend, the Hong Kong government inadvertently set off months of violent protests.

            But yeah, seems more possible than ever that China can invade.

            If you look at the influential model of the Chinese diplomatic core and economic model, they don’t need to establish a military presence in Taiwan. They just need the Taiwanese public to stop seeing Chinese businessmen and politicians as existential threats to their safety.

            That’s already happened across West Africa. And it is an increasingly common sentiment across the South Pacific, the Middle East, and the European South. To quote Dr Lubinda Haabazoka, Director of the University of Zambia Graduate School of Business and former President of the Economics Association of Zambia

            Every time China visits we get a hospital, every time Britain visits we get a lecture.

            • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Oh China has all sorts of influence over Taiwan who are their largest trading partner and their traditional gateway to the west. There’s lots of reasons not to invade.

              But leaders aren’t always rational.

              • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                glances Putin-ward

                No kidding.

                Nevertheless, the modern Chinese state seems more rational and less belligerent than most.

                • iopq@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  More rational than most is not a tough hurdle. The average in state rationality is something like Kazakhstan

      • Ilixtze@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Given that Canada and Greenland are also in the sight of these nazis we might need a larger coalition .

      • baldingpudenda@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Cartels been killing judges and politicians for decades. They don’t do it in the USA because they don’t want that type of heat on them. If the US invades, I’m sure they’ll start.

        • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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          1 year ago

          Plus, the hiring standards and practices of ICE makes it incredibly easy to do sabotage. Masks, unlicensed cars, firearms, no need for badges nor warrants, bounties to pay for operating expenses, and no need to explain anything. It is a wet dream for anyone who wants to engage in overt operations.

          • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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            1 year ago

            I have been consistently surprised to not see this already be a thing but, heck, if it were, how would we even know?

            As if they’d be like “Oh THAT unmarked van full of armed masked thugs that stormed a residence/school/business and dragged people away? Shoot, that one wasn’t us, sorry!”

  • wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    Good thing I don’t live in Texas anymore. They’re gonna get the shit terrorized out of them in response. This asymmetric stuff gets nasty and the US won’t be able to identify good hispanic from bad hispanic based on color alone.

  • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Putin is coaching him, he’s been convinced “strong men annex neighbouring territory” and wants to be like Russia is to Ukraine.

    It’s the same thing that got all the Oligarchy in line, it’s all via Putin coaching him.

  • Jas@lemmy.zip
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    1 year ago

    Man this is wild… if the U.S. really goes through with this, it’s gonna strain things with Mexico in a way we haven’t seen before. Feels like they’re walking a thin line and calling it everything except an invasion doesn’t change what it is. Definitely something to keep an eye on

    • Lucky_777@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I would also back any cartel that could pull this off. Would love to see the documentary after too.

      • Zink@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        Ah, the gentleperson’s ever-present silver lining when they find themselves living in “interesting times”:

        This is going to produce some great documentaries!

        …I hope I live long enough to see the end of this shit!

        …plus a few years for journalism and research and production on the documentaries using humane working schedules, of course. And some totally understandable production delays and interview re-shoots.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    1 year ago

    He wants a Nobel Peace Prize so badly you can smell the desperation, but Stephen “PeeWee Himmler” Miller wants to murder millions of people so he doesn’t feel like a weak little Jew with a tiny dick, so he’s whispering in HitlerPig’s ear like Wormtongue, and encouraging war.