Donald Trump's Campaign Might Upend Mexico's Entire Political System Christopher Woody - Business Insider
go to original September 29, 2016

"If Trump were to win ... Lopez Obrador would have a field day" (Reuters)

Hillary Clinton's performance in the first presidential debate buoyed hopes of her victory in November, especially in Mexico, where her performance raised spirits and the value of the peso.

But win or lose, there is still the potential for Donald Trump, who has made having Mexico pay for a wall on the southern border a central campaign promise, to have a lasting impact on the Mexican political landscape.

The Republican candidate has already caused turmoil in the sitting Mexican government.

In the wake of Trump's visit with current President Enrique Peña Nieto in early September, Luis Videgaray, one of Peña Nieto's closest advisers and reportedly the person who suggested Trump's visit, stepped down as finance minister.

As Trump has tapped into a dissatisfaction with the political status quo in the US, his stance toward Mexico appears to have bolstered the position of a Mexican presidential candidate who has the same anti-establishment appeal.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, often referred to as AMLO, has twice run for Mexico's presidency, losing narrowly in 2006 and again by 6 points to Peña Nieto in 2012 — and he's set to run again in 2018.

AMLO's party, the National Regeneration Movement, or Morena — which he formed in 2014 after breaking with the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution — got a boost from Mexico's midterm elections in June, in which the party won 18% of state-level votes nationwide (but no states), a number of local elections, and Mexico City's vote for a constitutional assembly.

...The shortcomings of the PRI and other mainstream parties, coupled with Trump's incendiary rhetoric about Mexico, has burnished AMLO's appeal as an outsider willing to challenge the status quo and as a defender of Mexicans.

Read the rest at Stamford Advocate

Related: Leader of Mexican Left Accused of Using Trump-Like Hate Speech (PanAm Post)

Related: What Can Mexico Do About Trump? (The New York Times)

Related: Minorities Less Anxious About US Election Outcome Than Whites (CBS News)

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