Former Defense Sec. Esper’s account of Trump wanting to shoot missiles into Mexico should disqualify the failed former president.
One such idea emerged from Mr. Trump, who was unhappy about the constant flow of drugs across the southern border, during the summer of 2020. Mr. Trump asked Mr. Esper at least twice if the military could “shoot missiles into Mexico to destroy the drug labs.”
“They don’t have control of their own country,” Mr. Esper recounts Mr. Trump saying.
When Mr. Esper raised various objections, Mr. Trump said that “we could just shoot some Patriot missiles and take out the labs, quietly,” adding that “no one would know it was us.” Mr. Trump said he would just say that the United States had not conducted the strike.
Trump’s idea that the United States could bomb its southern neighbor, and then deny doing it is both insane and childish.
Of course, Mexico and the rest of the world would know that the United States did it. The missiles would be tracked, and any debris left behind from the attack would be traced back to the United States.
Donald Trump was proposing that the United States commit an act of war.
Trump believed that attacking Mexico would help his reelection campaign, and while it is easy to get desensitized to the accounts of Trump’s behavior one should never become immune to the danger that Trump represents both to America and to the rest of the world.
Mr. Easley is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association