Fallout from Trump’s visit to Mexico: a rise of anti-Americanism?

(Photo: Dario Lopez-Mills – AP)

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.

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.

To continue reading this article click The Miami Herald