MEXICO CITY — President Donald Trump used his Truth Social account on Sunday, August 2, to circulate a five-month-old opinion piece that brands Mexico's government as chronically corrupt and presses President Claudia Sheinbaum to open the country's borders to American forces hunting drug cartels. The repost reignited a sovereignty dispute that has been building between Washington and Mexico City for weeks.
A Sunday Share, No Extra Words From Trump
Trump attached no caption of his own — he simply linked the piece, according to Proceso's coverage of the post. Titled "Mexico's Problem," the column carries the byline of conservative commentator and former television anchor Bill O'Reilly and had been sitting on his personal website since March 11 — five months before Trump gave it new life. By the next day, the post tallied approximately 1,700 reshares and 6,460 likes on the post. Before his commentary career, O'Reilly held anchor roles at CBS, ABC, and Fox News, departing the last of those networks in 2017 amid sexual harassment allegations.
La Jornada noted that several Mexican newsrooms found the timing itself notable — Trump wasn't offering fresh criticism, but resurrecting an existing text months after its original publication.
What the Column Actually Claims
O'Reilly's piece, posted on his own site, states flatly that "Mexico is not a friend to the United States," arguing that decades of graft inside Mexican institutions — not American drug demand — explain the country's homicide rate and cartel violence. He dismisses Mexican officials' counterpoint that U.S. drug consumption and weapons trafficking share the blame, calling it an inadequate excuse, and contends Sheinbaum has the authority to let U.S. personnel help dismantle cartel networks but refuses to use it. He closes by pressing the Mexican president toward firmer action rather than what he frames as a pattern of shifting blame.
Sheinbaum fielded a question about the repost as she wrapped a three-day tour of Oaxaca state that had opened in the town of Santiago Suchilquitongo with the launch of a native-corn support program, according to Infobae. Her answer, translated from Spanish was short: "We are friends with the whole world, and courage is the defense of sovereignty." She added that friendly ties with other countries don't mean surrendering control over domestic choices, and that decisions about internal policy belong to Mexicans alone.
Morena's Senators Send Their Own Message
The ruling Morena party wasn't content to let Sheinbaum's brief remark stand alone. Its senators in the upper chamber wrote directly to O'Reilly, rejecting any suggestion that Mexico's approach to organized crime amounts to weakness or complacency. The lawmakers argued that cartel trafficking is sustained on both sides of the border — by American drug demand, weapons flowing south, and money laundering — and called on Washington to address gun smuggling and financial crime on its own soil. The senators described themselves as "absolutely intransigent" on questions of sovereignty, while also saying they remain open to continued security talks with Washington.
Part of a Rockier Summer
Sunday's exchange didn't come out of nowhere. The previous Monday, July 27, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told a Pentagon ceremony awarding a border-defense medal to roughly 50 U.S. service members that cartels effectively occupied Mexican territory and had broken the country's courts and political system. He argued the groups sit in "the exact same legal position as ISIS or Al-Qaeda," according to Tempo.co. Miller also defended Washington's decision to designate cartels as foreign terrorist organizations — a February 2025 move that covered eight Latin American groups in total, of which six are Mexican cartels, alongside El Salvador's MS-13 and Venezuela's Tren de Aragua, according to a breakdown by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas.
Sheinbaum chose not to answer Miller point for point. Instead, she cited U.S. government data showing more than 100,000 overdose deaths inside the United States in 2025 as evidence that Washington has its own house to put in order, and suggested the rhetoric was tied to campaigning ahead of November's midterm elections, as Mundo Ejecutivo reported.
The friction traces back to the start of Sheinbaum's presidency. Trump began pressuring Mexico over fentanyl and migration almost as soon as she took office on October 1, 2024, threatening a 25% tariff that was ultimately paused after Mexico agreed to send 10,000 troops to its northern border. That early bargain won Sheinbaum favorable reviews at the time, including from a former Mexican ambassador who told Reuters she had handled the standoff "masterfully," according to Reuters — a moment that helped lift her approval ratings early in her term.
An Open Question
Whether Sunday's repost signals a tougher turn in Washington's posture toward Mexico, or simply reflects Trump amplifying a commentator whose views track his own, remains unclear. Neither the White House nor Sheinbaum's government has announced any concrete change to the security cooperation both sides say continues.
