“It does seem like a replay, especially of the global war on terror,” said Jennifer Kavanagh, the center’s director of military analysis. “You see people like Secretary Hegseth saying this is the new Al Qaeda. No. 1, the use of Al Qaeda, more generally, as this boogeyman out there to justify all sorts of adventures in the Middle East is something that restrainers would push back on. But also, the cartels are nothing like Al Qaeda.”
Daniel DePetris, a fellow at the center who researches Latin America, said Mr. Trump is a “primacist” when it comes to the Western Hemisphere — meaning the president is intent on maintaining American dominance across the region, largely through military force.
“This is another instance of Trump using the military hammer and elevating military solutions to problems that don’t have military solutions,” he said.
Although Mr. Trump appears reluctant to publicly discuss regime change, Mr. DePetris added, Mr. Rubio is clearly driving policy in that direction: “Marco Rubio is using the drugs as a way station to convince Trump to go into Caracas and get Maduro out of there.”
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