Way back in 2002, Jonah Goldberg published a (mostly) satirical piece in National Review with the humorous title, "Bomb Canada." It was an irreverent analysis of the problems with Canada's fundamentally unamerican nature, describing why we should not literally bomb them, but instead give them a bit of "slapping around" to inspire them to grow up and stop acting like a bunch of socialists. (It's definitely worth a click to read through it for a walk down memory lane.) This week, Luther Ray Abel takes to the pages of the same publication with a companion piece titled "Bomb Mexico." Like Goldberg, Abel isn't calling for literal strafing runs across the border, but he examines some of the recent actions and statements from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and describes how he is currently taking advantage of the chaos on the border to benefit himself while emperiling Ameria's interests. AMLO is in need of being reminded of his place on the ladder in North America.

Obrador’s list of essentials, before he’d consider lifting a finger to control migration, include: the United States’ committing $20 billion to Latin America (graft), lifting sanctions on Venezuela (enabling a leftist dictator), ending the Cuban embargo (propping up another leftist dictatorship), and legalizing Mexicans living in the U.S. Insane.

In case it wasn’t already obvious, this Mexican government is not a friend of the United States, and the Biden administration — after looking at some maps — should consider directing the U.S. Army and the Air Force to level Mexico and install Ted Cruz as governor of our newest state.

In all seriousness, the United States could use Mexico as a preferable manufacturing-base alternative to China. To do so, we need to deal with that country’s current two-bit cartel president from time to time.

I'm fairly certain that Abel was joking when suggesting we level the country and make it our 51st state. But the point is well taken. Mexico's list of demands in exchange for doing more to lock down the border isn't just misguided. It's offensive. Referring to AMLO as a "two-bit cartel president" may sound offensive for a head of state, but the man has more than earned the title. It's long been understood that he's in the pockets of some of the drug cartels and he keeps a thumb on the scales in their fights between each other. He makes a show of trying to suppress their activities, but that's really all it is. A show. 

The reality is that AMLO is doing what you would expect someone to do when their neighbor is weak and easy to push around. It wasn't always this way, however. Over the last two years of Donald Trump's presidency, after AMLO took office in 2018, our relationship was quite different. When Trump demanded that Mexico send troops to the border, thousands of troops arrived quickly. Between the two of them, they slowed the flow of illegal aliens to a trickle. Trump had made it clear to him that a failure to cooperate could result in a serious blow to Mexico's economy, along with AMLO's political career. When Trump said "jump," AMLO jumped.

The Mexican president is on his way out now, but he still wants to leave a good legacy. His replacement will similarly try to make a good impression on the public. They need a firm reminder that the United States is their largest and most significant trading partner. They ship a lot of goods of many sorts into the United States. It would only take a few swipes of the executive pen and those goods could suddenly cost three times more than they do now and they would stop selling. A serious president could also have Mexico placed higher on the "Do Not Travel" list and their tourism industry would collapse overnight. After all, Mexico isn't quite as bad as Haiti right now, but the area near the border isn't far off. And you don't have to squint very hard to confuse the Mexican cartels with the Haitian gangs, though we don't have any firm confirmation of them literally eating their victims... or at least not yet. 

The point is, Mexico could be brought back into line. But the Mr. Magoo wannabe we have in the Oval Office at the moment isn't going to step up and take any of those strong actions. He's allowing bad actors around the world free rein to commit mayhem, even against America and our allies. Mexico is already abusing our friendship by allowing the cartels to run hog wild over us and that's been the case since Biden took office. Why would he change now? Just one more reason that he needs to be shown the door this November if there is to be any hope for our country.