I didn’t think Trump could stoop any lower, but here I am, surprised yet again by his decision to nominate Ronald Johnson as ambassador to Mexico.
This is no ordinary diplomat. Johnson is a retired Green Beret with an impressive—and let’s be honest, ominous—résumé that includes twenty years in the CIA and a stint as a “senior advisor” to the Southern Command, that long arm of the White House which stretches across the Americas, stirring up coups and chaos. Chile in ’73, Bolivia in ’71, Honduras in 2009—ring a bell?
With credentials like these, let’s not pretend Trump didn’t warn us: he’s coming for Mexico—our resources, our economy, our government. And he’ll do whatever it takes to meddle, even if that means resorting to military invasion.
This might sound like something out of an action movie, but Trump himself has openly floated the idea of a “soft invasion” of Mexico, where U.S. forces would hunt down drug lords.
The problem with this—aside from the obviously horrifying prospect of turning Mexico into a Syria with guacamole—is that Trump is addicted to hamburgers and sugar. He doesn’t know when to stop. Once he sets his orange feet on Mexican soil, he’ll want to grab every taco stand on every corner, until he’s made his way to the National Palace itself.
He’s even dared to toy with the idea of annexing Mexico as yet another American state. This wouldn’t be the first time. Remember 1846? The Stars and Stripes flew over Chapultepec Castle, and it all ended with the disgraceful Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, where Mexico lost nearly half its territory—from Texas all the way to Wyoming. So, no, I don’t think he was joking. In psychoanalysis, there’s no such thing as a double meaning in psychotic individuals. Now do you see? When Trump says something, take him at his word. With him, there’s no such thing as “it’s probably just a joke.”
Colonel Johnson served in Trump’s diplomatic corps during his first administration. From 2019 to 2021, he was ambassador to El Salvador, tasked with stopping migration, curbing China’s economic influence, and backing President Nayib Bukele’s Territorial Control Plan. Yes, that plan praised for supposedly wiping out gangs by granting the police and military a monopoly on violence.
The plan, however, has been criticized by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for hiding details about its implementation and results, highlighting its “repressive approach” and the establishment of “death squads” carrying out “social cleansing”—a grim throwback to the paramilitary groups of Roberto D’Aubuisson’s fascist government during El Salvador’s civil war in the 1980s.
According to Human Rights Watch, over 3,000 teenagers have been detained by Bukele’s squads, 60 of whom were tortured, as evidence shows. Add to that the more than 80,000 people arrested under the so-called “state of emergency,” 265 of whom have died in custody—including, horrifyingly, four babies.
These were the “achievements” praised by Ambassador Johnson—perhaps because such horrors feel familiar to him. As a U.S. Army Special Forces agent and CIA operative, he led combat operations against El Salvador’s Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front guerrillas, in support of D’Aubuisson’s dictatorship.
This imperialist figure is set to be Trump’s next ambassador to Mexico.
By the way, it’s customary for the U.S. State Department to seek approval from Mexican governments for their ambassadorial picks. Did they bother to do so with Ronald Johnson?
Either way, one thing is clear: Trump has Mexico and Latin America in his crosshairs. His nomination of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State is proof enough. And as if that weren’t enough, he’s appointed former U.S. Ambassador Christopher Landau as Rubio’s deputy. Both of these men speak Spanish and have deep vested interests in the region. The writing on the wall is obvious: they’ll aim to destabilize Mexico and push a staunchly anti-leftist agenda.
What’s left for us to do? Open our eyes, keep a close watch on the news, and reread the history of the Bay of Pigs.
