Will Fallout from Trump's Visit to Mexico Lead to Rise of Anti-Americanism? Andres Oppenheimer - Miami Herald
go to original September 9, 2016

Republican candidate Donald Trump's visit to Mexico was a textbook case of amateurish diplomacy, but there is something much more troublesome about it. It may resurrect Mexico's anti-American revolutionary nationalism and hurt the United States for years to come.

Listen: Mexicans are disappointed in Trump's visit, but not with Trump

Trump made a mess out of his Aug. 31 visit to Mexico. He first lavished praise on Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto during their joint appearance in Mexico City — despite having vowed for the past 12 months that he would talk tough to the Mexican president — only to flip flop a few hours later and deliver a fiery anti-Mexican speech in Arizona.

To make things worse, he claimed on that same day that he had not discussed with Peña Nieto who would pay for his proposed wall along the Mexican border. The Mexican president wrote later in a Twitter message that he had told Trump unequivocally that Mexico would not pay for the wall, in essence calling Trump a liar.

But the biggest fallout of Trump's visit was an avalanche of criticism against Peña Nieto in Mexico for having invited Trump. Mexicans say Peña Nieto gave Trump a much-needed photo opportunity to look "presidential" on a podium alongside a foreign leader, and that he allowed Mexico to be humiliated by Trump's anti-Mexican speech in Arizona immediately after he left Mexico City.

Peña Nieto was also lambasted for not having demanded an apology from Trump for having called Mexicans "criminals" and "rapists." Trump is probably the most hated figure in Mexico. Only 2 percent of Mexicans have a favorable opinion of him, according to a recent poll by the daily El Financiero.

And Peña Nieto, whose popularity had already fallen to 25 percent before Trump's visit, is now one of the most unpopular Mexican presidents in recent history. There is a massive anti-government march planned for Sept. 15, and several well-known columnists are asking for the president's resignation.

"I don't remember a president who is as weak, and so early in his term, as Enrique Peña Nieto," said well-known writer Hector Aguilar Camín in the daily Milenio newspaper.

A big question now is how widespread, and how anti-American, Mexico's growing nationalist reaction will be.

Read the rest at Miami Herald

Related: Why Washington Should Care About Mexico's Leadership Shake-Up (The Hill)

Related: President Pena Nieto Still Feeling Pain from Trump's Mexico Trip (Agence France-Presse)

Related: Mexico Is Threatening to Take Back Texas and California if Donald Trump Is Elected (The New Civil Rights Movement)

Related: How Trump Lost His Mojo in Mexico: Requiem For a Meme (Paste)

Related: Mexico's President Could Have Been a Hero Instead of a Chump (La Voz)

Related: Examining U.S.-Mexico Ties in the Age of Trump (Harvard Gazette)

Related: Mexico’s New Finance Minister Spurns Donald Trump (Reuters)

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