One of the strategies that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump employs very often is blaming specific groups of people for the problems he perceives in the country. Trump has made many statements blaming just about everyone for some ill against the country.
His favorite targets have been immigrants, Democrats and minorities. He has blamed other countries for things as well. He once said that China invented global warming as some type of economic weapon to use against the United States despite all the scientific evidence to the contrary. He shows no signs of slowing down on his blame game while campaigning.
A singular thing stands out when Donald Trump speaks. He does not seem to like Mexico at all. One of the first things that Trump did during the announcement of his candidacy was to insult the Mexican people. He called them “rapists” and “drug dealers” in his now infamous speech. His attacks against the neighbor of the United States have not ceased since then. He has gone so far as to claim the country is intentionally sending criminals to the United States as part of some larger conspiracy. This outraged many people and just added to the bizarre litany of things Trump says on an almost daily basis.
The attacks against Mexico culminated in the idea that Trump would build a massive wall stretching hundreds of miles across the southern border. He said this despite the fact that walls already exist across much of the border. The wall would supposedly stop Mexicans from crossing into the country illegally even though there is no evidence it would work. Trump went on to say he would force the government of Mexico to pay for the wall. He has never given any realistic details about how he would force the sovereign government of another nation to give money to the United States for a construction project.
Mexican officials have largely remained silent on this issue. It was likely because they shared the sentiments of many American pundits who did not believe Trump would ever gain traction. That was proven wrong recently as Trump started racking up delegates and became the frontrunner. This startled figures in Mexico. It caused former Mexican President Vicente Fox to issue a statement saying that the country would never pay for the wall. He used an explicative in the comment. Current Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto decided to speak up too.
Nieto was asked whether Mexico would pay for the wall by a local paper. “There is no scenario in which we will pay for that wall,” he said and stated that Trump was similar to fascist leaders in the past such as Mussolini and even Hitler. He believes that Trump is taking advantage of the fears and anxieties of people just like those fascist leaders did after their countries emerged from economic disasters. The ideas Nieto has put forth are being echoed in the American media.
Trump has become a topic for serious debate lately. He seems poised to take the nomination unless voters make a concerted effort to consciously stop him. Images from his campaign of Trump leading supporters in loyalty oaths, schoolyard insults about the size of his opponents and talk of restricting the press have caused anxiety in the country. People are even being beaten up and removed from Trump rallies simply because of skin color. It seems that Mexico is now sharing in the anxiety of the United States as the possibility of a Trump presidency becomes ever more real. Donald Trump has not yet made any response to Nieto’s comments although he likely will at some point.