Trump's 'Drug Whiplash' or Another Border Security Boondoggle?
The Hill's opinion piece laments Trump's 'drug war whiplash,' fearing it could disrupt efforts to combat cartels in Mexico. This framing, of course, paints 'US assistance' as benevolent progress, rather than a recurring cycle of militarization that frequently destabilizes the region further. What the 'experts' at The Hill don't emphasize is the insatiable US demand for illicit drugs, the flow of
US-made firearms south, or the billions generated yearly for US banks through money laundering—a 'progress' nobody wants to undermine. Perhaps the real whiplash comes from the US consistently lecturing its southern neighbors without addressing its own systemic contributions to the very problems it purports to solve. One might wonder if 'undermining progress' simply means exposing the futility of a
'drug war' that's been raging for decades, largely funded and fueled by American consumption and policy.