They think this is a drug war, like it’s still the 1980s and everybody’s watching the same three channels, because that’s about as far as their imagination goes. A lot of people are saying it’s about narcotics and “security,” like a rerun with worse acting. Some people have noted that it’s not even mainly about oil anymore—though that’s the most obvious prize, especially now that Drumphy, the orange-faced buffoon, more or less said the quiet part out loud in front of the cameras. Headlines read “Stability” and “Freedom,” but many whispers speak of something else entirely: the slow, deliberate destabilization of the whole Western Hemisphere so that the oligarchic entity currently cosplaying as the United States can tighten its commercial grip on everything, and send you the bill through your taxes.

If walls could speak in those marble buildings, they might chuckle and say, “They don’t care about anything except profit and power, kid.” Common sense may imply that you and your family don’t exactly benefit when foreign policy starts to look like a clearance sale. If insulations were obvious, then everyone would see how comfortably padded the decision-makers are from the fallout. Dates don’t lie: every time a new “intervention” kicks off, another set of contracts and cash flows mysteriously lands in the same familiar pockets. And somewhere in that crowd of grinning deal-makers, there’s always at least one bargain-bin strongman—call him Temu Hitler, a sort of discount dictator archetype—happy to help run the script as long as the checks clear.