They'll just claim illegal immigrants represent an "invasion." They'll use that as casus belli to invade Mexican territory, and then simply claim occupied lands as spoils of war. They'll also be able to make a practical argument, "well Mexico clearly can't manage the border regions. Look at the anarchy there!"

I don't see MAGA trying to seize all of Mexico. They wouldn't want to take the heavily populated core around Mexico City, that's for sure. But the more lightly populated border states? That would be much more tantalizing. Also, they could justify intervention in the border states as "protecting American investments," referring to all the factories US companies have built right across the border.

Relocating an entire industrial plant is hard and expensive. One of the quickest ways to "bring manufacturing back to America" is to simply move the border to encompass already existing factories.

Canada would be a lot harder to justify, but casus belli can always be found. It just takes one person fleeing to Canada to escape charges for getting or performing an abortion. Suddenly Canada is "harboring fugitives." Or attempt to relitigate the US/Canada border disputes of the 1800s. Or just claim fentanyl is being smuggled in from Canada. Etc. A casus belli can always be found or manufactured.

Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine

Is that all? Isn't there another country you're missing?

You lost me at Ukraine. Ukraine was a domestic revolution against a Russian puppet government that acted in defiance and betrayal of the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainians didnt need any help getting pissed off and rioting in the streets when their president stabbed the entire nation in the back.

that when the shit hit the fan and the Yanukovitch government was about to fall, every regional and global power on earth was scrambling to try to get a favorable outcome while the streets of Kyiv were being fought between a mob of protestors and those protecting the Puppet state government.

those "phonecalls" that Russian propagandists love to talk about, weren't quite the Gotcha that they think they were, because dozens of countries were having those same phone calls, it doesnt happen often, but anytime a state government falls, thats actually normal for those calls to go on. Its outside actors trying to put the peices back together in a way that benefits them and their interests. (if you think Western countries having those calls on Ukraine's future was bad, boy do I have a horse to sell you on what was happening in Russia, Short version, it resulted in a full scale war.)

People talk about what caused the Euromaidan and who was responsible for it all the time, but critical and central issue they never seem to bring up when they argue about "Big bad Russia, evil CIA coup, etc" is the Ukrainian people. The population of the country where it happened is treated as if it wasn't a factor with agency at all, that they only revolted because some guys at the US embassy gave them some signs and told em to. that line of reasoning frankly needs to be told to fuck off.

ah yes, the annexed regions of Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.