Donald Trump suggested launching missiles on Mexican drug laboratories, according to the former secretary of defense

1 min read
May 6, 2022

In a book published on May 10 in the United States, Mark T. Esper, the former defense secretary of the United States, writes that Donald Trump suggested to launch missiles on drug laboratories in Mexico.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump at a campaign rally at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona | © Gage Skidmore, October 2016

Mark T. Esper will publish A Sacred Oath on May 10 in the United States, “memoirs of a secretary of defense during extraordinary times”.

And one of the extraordinary moments is when Donald J. Trump proposed to launch missiles to destroy the drug laboratories in Mexico to wipe out the drug cartels, according to the New York Times. “We could just shoot some Patriot missiles and take out the labs, quietly,” suggested Mr. Trump at least twice to Mr. Esper who objected to the idea. Mr. Trump added that “no one would know it was us.”

The defense secretary thought for a moment Mr. Trump was not serious. The former president had this idea during the summer of 2020 because he felt that Mexico didn’t have control of its territory and was fed up with the inflow of drugs from the southern border.

The suggestion came a few weeks before the presidential election campaign for his reelection started and after the first impeachment trial for which he was acquitted. For Mr. Esper, Mr. Trump was more emboldened and erratic after the acquittal. He describes the former president as an “unprincipled person who, given his self-interest, should not be in the position of public service.”

Mark Esper was the United States secretary of defense from 2019 to November 2020, until he was fired by the president in a tweet.

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Clément Vérité

Clément is the executive editor and founder of Newsendip. He started in the media industry as a freelance reporter at 16 for a local French newspaper after school and has never left it. He later worked for seven years at The New York Times, notably as a data analyst. He holds a Master of Management in France and a Master of Arts in the United Kingdom in International Marketing & Communications Strategy. He has lived in France, the United Kingdom, and Italy.