WAPO headline not mine:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/08/31/hitler-and-a-false-prophet-a-quick-guide-to-what-mexicans-think-of-trump/Donald Trump's surprise visit to Mexico to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday presents a curious turn in the narrative of the American presidential campaign. Trump announced his candidacy by both insulting Mexican immigrants — demonizing then as "rapists" — and then making a far-fetched promise: the construction of a fortified border wall paid for by the Mexican government.
Now, just before a big speech on immigration, he seems to be making nice with Peña Nieto, a president whose government Trump earlier described as "totally corrupt." Both men, as PostEverything's Dan Drezner points out, need the political winds to blow in their favor ahead of tough upcoming elections. It seems unlikely the gambit will work that well for either of them.
It should also come as no surprise that senior Mexican officials have their own negative opinions about the American business mogul-turned-politician. And that includes the president, who earlier this year waded into the debate over Trump's rhetoric on Mexico and likened the GOP nominee to fascist leaders from the past.
"That’s how Mussolini got in, that’s how Hitler got in. They took advantage of a situation, a problem,” Peña Nieto told the newspaper Excelsior in March, offering his explanation of Trump's rise.
In June, he toned down his rhetoric, instead explaining that he was offering a critique of Trump's populism: "In different places we are presented with political actors and political leaders who assume populist and demagogic positions, and try to eliminate or destroy … that which has taken decades to build."
Critics of Peña Nieto were quick to suggest he's also trying to head off populist challenges to his own rule in Mexico by conflating them with Trump. Nevertheless, the president's predecessor and other opponents do share a similar dim view of the Republican candidate.
"I think [Trump's] logic of exalting white supremacy isn’t even acting against immigration. … It is acting and speaking against immigrants who have a different skin color than him, which is frankly racist and is a bit like the exploitation of raw nerves that Hitler did in his day," said former president Felipe Calderón earlier this year.
Another former president, Vicente Fox, has been even more outspoken, repeatedly going on American television to denounce Trump and his absurd proposal to force Mexico to pay for his border wall.
"Wake up, Americans, he’s a false prophet," Fox said on a political podcast in February. "Think about it, analyze what he’s proposing. Count the amount of lies he says in every speech. Everyday he lies and lies with figures because his sole interest is to do personal business, to get greedy, to get more money, to put the Trump name everywhere in the world."
He went on: "I’m not going to pay for that f---ing wall, and please don’t take out the f---ing full word,” Fox continued. “He’s crazy. He is crazy."
More at link.
