>>941156052
Again, power's got nothing to do with it. I'm more powerful than the hornet's nest outside, but I'm not willing to go out there and squash them all with my bare feet because I know I'm getting stung a bunch of times before I win. The cartels are one of the few groups on the planet to actually give the U.S. government pause. The U.S. military would absolutely win (or at least inflict the most casualties) in a formal, direct military conflict, but Americans aren't ready for the level of Spartan brutality that the cartels would be willing to inflict in the meantime. They do mean business.
>>941155970
>>941156129
>They have cells in all 50 states
Also, my point in pointing this out is that all they'd have to do is have one mentally ill guy go around with a gas can and a lighter and all the major cities in America would look like Los Angeles last year. Even if one cartel thought that was too high risk even in a war situation, there's like ten or twenty major cartels and they're all fucked up on meth and all it'd take is a handful of suicidal soldiers, which they do have and would have in much bigger numbers if Mexico was directly attacked. That's why Trump is focusing on Venezuelan street gangs who are significantly less likely to do what the cartels could do.
>>941156251
I'm white, but one of my best friends as a kid came from a Sinaloa family. Some of those guys are straight mentally ill and just do not give a single solitary fuck about their own lives and would absolutely do some absolutely insane shit just to give Trump and America the finger if they feel like it was warranted. Again, presidential term limits are probably whats going to keep that from happening; no matter how bad it gets, it's over in 2028. But, no, America does NOT want an all-out war with the cartels even if the outcome is predetermined. It wouldn't be any fun at all.
