45th President Donald Trump declared that it is “time for America to wage war” on the drug cartels, and that he will authorise military operations against them if he returns to the White House.
In a video posted to social media, Trump railed against the drug crisis that is currently “stealing hundreds of thousands of beautiful American lives.” An accompanying press release noted that in 2022, enough fentanyl was seized by the DEA at the border to kill every single American, with Trump placing the blame squarely on Joe Biden.
“Joe Biden has sided against the United States and with the cartels,” Trump said. “They are making more money than they’ve ever made before, times 10…. Biden’s open border policies are a deadly betrayal of our nation.” Since 2019, the number of Americans who were killed by fentanyl has increased by 94%, aggravated by “Biden’s border disaster.”
With the drug cartels “waging war on America,” Trump declared that it was “now time for America to wage war on the cartels,” using the might of the American military to take them down like they did ISIS. “We will show no mercy to the cartels,” he added.
🚨Trump releases plan to destroy cartels:
“It’s time to wage WAR on cartels”;
“we will inflict MAXIMUM Damage”Plans to use the US Navy to protect western waters
Sounds like the foreign policy of the 19th century 👀 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/KAVDfk3ueM
— johnny maga (@johnnymaga_) January 5, 2023
Along with “restoring strong border security,” Trump pledged to impose a “full naval embargo” on the cartels, along with ordering “the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces, cyberwarfare, and other overt and covert actions, to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations.”
The major cartels would also be designated as “foreign terrorist organisations,” and have their access to global financial systems severed.
Trump added that he would either get the “full cooperation” of other governments in the region in the war against the cartels, or he would “expose every bribe, every kickback, every pay-off, and every bit of corruption, that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign.”
As previously mentioned in his 2024 presidential announcement, Trump confirmed that he would ask Congress to pass legislation “ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the death penalty.”
“When I’m back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again,” he said. “There’s never been a better border than we had just two years ago. It was strong, it was powerful, and it was respected all over the world, and now we’re laughed at all over the world, and we’re not going to let that happen much longer.”
