The core of the Donald Trump tilt at the presidency of the United States – once you cut back the cruft – is that America has been sold out. Sold out to China and sold out to Mexico through free trade agreements that fuck over the American worker and have decimated local industry. And hey! He’s right, to a certain extent.
But his rhetoric around Mexico, while winning him a core base of angry Americans who strongly dislike immigrants and genuinely do think they’re all rapists and gang members, has alienated a lot of the people who might be onboard with other aspects of his message. We’ve already reported that he seems to be signposting a softening on his stance on immigration.
Aaaaand now he’s bloody popped into Mexico itself for a joint presser with Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico’s extremely beleaguered President (the bloke is not doing well in polls).
Keeping in mind that Neito has compared Trump to Hitler in the past, it was always going to be a bit of an odd one.
Trump made clear that in conversation with Neito, he had pressed for America’s interests when it came to trade and immigration, albeit in softer terms than he has in the past.
“No one wins in either country when human smugglers and drug traffickers prey on people, when cartels commit acts of violence,” Trump said. “I shared my strong view that NAFTA has been a far greater benefit to Mexico than it has to the United States and it has to be improved so that workers in the United States can benefit.”
He’s pivoted a bit in the language he uses, too. He’s actually started talking about enacting policies that benefit the northern hemisphere, rather than referring to the US itself. Obviously he’s not going to go all gung ho on the American exceptionalism when he’s in Mexico, but it’s definitely a switch up.
Trump repeatedly referencing helping the “hemisphere” rather than the United States. A tweak, but a notable one: pic.twitter.com/tfG2sG8qV6
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) August 31, 2016
MAKE THE NORTHN HEMISPHERE GREAT AGAIN doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, y’know?
Funnily enough, despite Trump’s aggressive promises that he’ll force Mexico to pay for a border wall, that specific convo didn’t really come up. They “didn’t discuss” it, actually.
Donald Trump: We didn’t discuss who pays for the wall https://t.co/SfJWzo0Bw4 https://t.co/PtSehY7BqX
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 31, 2016
Which is unsurprising, because despite the inflated rhetoric, there is a very low chance that a President Trump could actually make that happen. But look, he tries.
Basically, it was a weird, totally nothing conference. Mexicans of all political persuasions are baffled and angry by the fact he was invited to speak, and surely Trump’s nativist base can’t be to keen on the perception that Trump is extending a bit of an olive branch prior to the election.
But hey – this is obviously an attempt to look a bit more presidential, for those voters who think he isn’t. Maybe it’ll work.
Source: Washington Post.
Photo: Getty Images.
