About Last Night

Debate debate

I wanted to put a few thoughts down from last night’s debate. I’m currently in New York for CNN so I watched from a small hotel room eating takeout. My idea of a great night (not actually). I prefer watching with Sofia, where we discuss with each other and do sports noises like “oh get him” and “nooooooo!” That will have to wait until the third.

I saw echoes of the party I once used to call home. Defense of Ukraine from Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, and Chris Christie. Smaller government and education reform from a number of them. But one thing stood out…. Fear. Let me explain.

America has challenges and ALWAYS has. But of all countries we are the best prepared to meet them. Absent was inspiration, a vision for the future, and a committment to rule of law. While those were present sometimes, the overall spirit was fear… the democrats, the economy, the enemy (China? Unless you’re Vivek who apparently like them) etc. I don’t blame them, because fear sells and fear is demanded by the primary voters. Is this because it’s that moment in politics-or-because leaders forgot how to show another side? Probably both.

Christie laid Trump out, personally I liked it and think it’s necessary.

Finally, I want to discuss Mexico. There is a massive problem with drugs and cartels. Cartels are making quite a killing on human trafficking and in many cases are better equipped than our border patrol. How do I know? Because I worked the border as a pilot in the Air National Guard. I’ll discuss that another time.

However, talking about an invasion of Mexico or shooting the cartels “stone cold dead” (DeSantis) is actually hurting our options, militarily and otherwise, to make a difference. Plan Colombia was an important blueprint for this. American special forces (only the Green Berets are special forces, the rest are special operations) worked WITH the Colombian government to train and build the capability of their forces to fight the cartels, and developed corruption fighting practices in government.

This can work in Mexico, and should be pursued. You don’t gain the cooperation of Mexico by threatening invasion. You provide a win-win plan. This rhetoric ensures the process of convincing Mexico to work with us, simply will not happen or will take longer.

Finally, the idea of using unilateral special operations missions without the support of government is problematic. How do you gain targets without boots on the ground? How do you protect innocents near the cartel facilities? How do you know if someone is in the cartel? What happens if a soldier is killed or stranded in Mexico, how is he extracted? Will we have to attack the Mexican Air Force and anti-air assets to allow entry? Does US unilateral action help or hurt China’s case in Latin America? Why is this operation so attractive to you but supporting Ukraine without troops isnt?

All in all, the debate will change little. It will create more mistrust among those we need, and Donald Trump is still on a glide path to win because well, nobody except Christie has made the case otherwise.