Day 200: Clear and Present Idiocy

This is your reminder that it is now 200 days since the Trump-Epstein cover-up began.

🔽🔽🔽🔽🔽

Remember that story from a few months ago where Trump suddenly started talking about how he was going to re-open Alcatraz because he thought it was a really neat place (an expected belief, seeing how he is really into cruelty)? Immediately, anyone who understood how simple-minded Trump is just knew that that bit of idiocy was the result of the couch potato-in-chief watching Escape from Alcatraz. And, sure enough, it took only a little sleuthing to learn that, indeed, the movie was shown on television the day before he made his announcement.  

I bring that up because something similar happened today. As per the New York Times: 

Trump Directs Military to Target Foreign Drug Cartels

President Trump has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations, according to people familiar with the matter.

The decision to bring the American military into the fight is the most aggressive step so far in the administration’s escalating campaign against the cartels. It signals Mr. Trump’s continued willingness to use military forces to carry out what has primarily been considered a law enforcement responsibility to curb the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs.

We all know what happened here, right?  If anyone thinks this is the result of Trump crafting a strategy to deal with a global drug problem, they are quite mistaken.  Rather, it is a safe bet that Trump was up late watching Clear and Present Danger, and thought it would be really fun to bring that movie to life as a real-world policy of the United States.  Because he is such a baffoon, Trump missed the entire point of the movie and the Tom Clancy novel upon which it is based: when law enforcement becomes intertwined with military action, a nation can quickly find itself in an escalating quagmire, something that can backfire and destroy an administration.  The fact that Trump missed this central thesis should be no surprise, as Trump is someone who also misses the eat the rich thesis of his favorite play, Les Misérables.  All Trump believes is that war is cool, so why not deploy troops across the border and elsewhere in Latin America? It will be fun! When you have a quisling like "Lil' Marco" as Secretary of State, who will tell him otherwise?

Here's another trip down memory lane to consider. Do you recall when a Mexican gang, the so-called "Gulf Cartel," killed two Americans and took the rest hostage? If so, do you also recall how this violent gang later released the hostages and freakin' apologized for their actions?  Do you know why that happened? As Tom Clancy pointed out in Clear and Present Danger, it is because the United States and the drug cartels have an understanding that we will keep the violence limited to legitimate law enforcement actions and not descend into a cross-border war reminiscent of the days of Black Jack Pershing and Pancho Villa. 

If things do degenerate, as they did in 1916, things will be different: modern-day drug cartels are not the ragtag bandits of Villa's day, but rather well-funded and well-equipped narco factions that could unleash real chaos on both sides of the border. To be sure, the might of the American military is stunningly capable, even when helmed by Pete Hegseth, a misogynistic FOX News host with a history of alcoholism.  However, as proven by recent low-intensity wars, be it Vietnam or Iraq, even such a capable military has proven itself ill-equipped to deal with "bush wars" where massed airstrikes and maneuver brigades aren't much help.  And that will be precisely the type of conflict that the drug cartels will bring. Again, as shown in Clear and Present Danger. 

Today's actions by this addle-brained administration could breach that long-standing bit of realpolitik. And the response might get ugly. It is worth recalling that General Pershing never did capture Villa, even after leading a well-equipped military force into Mexico, something that even resulted in American troops finding themselves in combat against the Mexican military. There is no reason to assume that things will end more successfully in the 21st Century if Trump pursues this dangerous, movie-inspired delusion of his.

Fortunately, it is far more likely that this entire announcement was just another desperate attempt to distract Americans from the fact that Donald J. Trump is in the Epstein files.  

 🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼