Crane Remains Skeptical of Using Military to Fight the Cartels

Representative Eli Crane (R-AZ) has maintained his skepticism of using military force to destroy the Mexican drug cartels in a recent interview with Cactus Politics, even as the Trump Administration designated the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

Rep. Crane's chief concern is that "President Trump only gets four years, and I do not know if that is an enemy that you can defeat or diminish in four years."

Additionally, he pointed out that if the Trump Administration cannot destroy the cartels in that short period, their retaliation will be severe "because these guys do not play games. It is not about politics for them."

"We play a lot of politics up here in Washington, DC, and the pendulum swings back and forth every four to eight years. And if you do not take this threat seriously, and if you do not wipe them off the face of the earth, and if you decide that you are going to go on the offensive against them, they will most certainly go on the offensive against you, and so that is going to put a lot of Americans and a lot of elected officials in harm's way with a big target on their backs," Rep. Crane continued.

The Arizona Congressman had previously warned of leadership changes affecting the course of a war between the United States and the cartels and the vulnerability of elected officials and civilians during the conflict, telling us in March, "Do you think the cartels are not going to come try and get their same pound of flesh? They will, and who are they going to be looking for? Who is vulnerable? Anybody they feel was a part of it."

In August, Crane also posed the following question: "If they don't take care of the job in four years, then what are you left with? Does the pendulum swing back the other way, and you have another Kamala Harris type? Or another Joe Biden type that comes into office and can barely put a sentence together?"

However, with Trump now in charge, Crane told us in his most recent interview on this subject that hesitancy and skepticism did not mean he was entirely opposed to the idea of military force against the cartels. Instead, he emphasizes that "it should be done with a level head and caution. And if you are going to do it, you have to go all the way, full stop. And if you are not prepared to do that, do not even think about it."