Trump looks to expand war on cartels as effectiveness of boat
This story raises questions about governance, accountability, and American values.
The cartels are building submarines now. Not metaphorically, not some political cartoonist's exaggeration, but actual submersible vessels to move product up the Pacific coast. So when the critics say this campaign against the cartels hasn't cut American drug consumption enough to justify the price tag, it's worth pausing on what they are actually asking for.
New Republican Times Editorial Board
President Trump is leaning into his plan deploying lethal force against "ISIS"-like drug cartels, dismissing critics who say the operation hasn't reined in enough drug consumption in the U.S. to justify its costs.
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
The cartels are building submarines now. Not metaphorically, not some political cartoonist's exaggeration, but actual submersible vessels to move product up the Pacific coast. So when the critics say this campaign against the cartels hasn't cut American drug consumption enough to justify the price tag, it's worth pausing on what they are actually asking for. They want a war on a highly adaptive, heavily armed enemy to produce domestic policy results in a calendar year. That is not how this works.
The administration's bet is straightforward: treat these organizations like the terrorist networks they functionally are, not like street gangs that a local police chief can handle. The "ISIS" comparison gets dismissed as rhetoric, but the tactics keep proving the point. The boat blockade isn't just about interdicting product. It's about forcing the cartels to burn billions of dollars on engineering and logistics just to get a fraction of what used to move freely. That is a cost, and someone has to pay it. The fact that fentanyl is still reaching American streets is tragic, but it is not evidence of failure. Ending a war is not the same as solving every problem in one year.
What the critics miss is that this is a strategy for the long game, and it should be. The cartels have been winning for decades because they could always outlast a distracted federal government. Every prior "drug war" lost steam because Washington lost interest. This one will not, precisely because the administration is treating it as an extension of national security, not public health messaging. You are not going to strangle a trillion-dollar hydra in two years. You do it by cutting off its supply lines, sinking its boats, and making its leadership feel the heat in ways they haven't in a generation.
The real test isn't whether overdose numbers dipped before the last election cycle. The real test is whether the cartels still have the freedom of movement they enjoyed five years ago. They don't. That is progress, and it is worth the cost. This is a policy, not a public relations exercise. The goal is to make the cartels feel hunted, not comfortable. And on that front, the administration is doing exactly what it promised.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.