Donald Trump: Mexican President Says He’s Damaging U.S./Mexico Relations


Donald Trump plans on building a wall between the United States and Mexico, but according to the Mexican president, he might be burning bridges instead. On Monday, Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto went on the record, condemning the constant rhetoric Trump has spewed against the United States’ southern neighbor, reports CNN. Indeed, the Mexican president says Donald Trump has “damaged the relationship” between Mexico and the U.S.

“Whoever insults or speaks badly of Mexico doesn’t know the country. Whoever speaks badly of Mexicans doesn’t know Mexicans.”

Mexican president Peña Nieto has held his tongue for months; months in which Donald Trump has almost consistently talked down to Mexico and Mexicans. Since Trump’s foray into American politics began about a year ago, the former reality TV star has pledged to build a “massive wall” along the border between Mexico and the United States in order to keep out “illegal” Mexican immigrants. Donald Trump has also repeatedly promised the American electorate that Mexico will be paying for his planned wall, though he hasn’t laid out a plan to enforce the financial burden onto the Latin American nation.

Mexican President Condemns Trump
[Photo by @LatinoInitUSA /Twitter]
When it comes to talking about the Mexican people themselves, Donald Trump hasn’t been much kinder, nor has he been any quieter. During Donald Trump rallies, the GOP front-runner has used the subject of Mexican immigrants to unite and enrage his rabid supporters. At such events, Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that Mexican immigrants are “taking our jobs” and “taking our money.”

While Donald Trump didn’t choose to respond to the Mexican President directly on Monday, he did mention his infamous wall again during a North Carolina rally. At that event, he insinuated that his wall could “solve” New Hampshire’s heroin problem.

“I love the people of New Hampshire, they have a tremendous problem with heroin. And I said, ‘I’m gonna solve that problem, because we’re gonna build that wall!'”

The current Mexican president isn’t the only Mexican president to have a problem with Donald Trump’s words and plans for the future. Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico, famously refuted Donald Trump’s wall initiative in an interview with Jorge Ramos.

“I’m not going to pay for that f—ing wall,”

Upon hearing the words of former Mexican president Fox, Donald trump said during a Republican debate that “the wall just got ten feet taller.” He also demanded that former Mexican president Fox issue him an apology.

Trump Yells
[Photo by @headline_hound/Twitter]
That apology may be long time coming. Indeed, President Fox absolutely refused to apologize to The Donald, and during a CNN interview told Anderson Cooper that Donald Trump “reminds him of Adolf Hitler.”

“Today, he’s going to take that nation (U.S.) back to the old days of conflict, war and everything. I mean, he reminds me of Hitler. That’s the way he started speaking.”

Another former Mexican president, Filipe Calderon, told CNBC during an interview that the people of Mexico will not be paying “any single cent for such a stupid wall.”

The Huffington Post reports that the situation between Mexico and the potential GOP presidential nominee have gotten so bad that just last week, Mexican legislators in Mexico City asked for Donald Trump to be banned from entering Mexico. Those legislators cited Donald Trump’s unrelenting negativity toward Mexican immigrants, saying that he has “kindled anti-Mexican resentment” with his words, sweeping negative generalizations about Mexican people.

Mexico isn’t the first country to to consider a ban against prospective U.S. president Donald Trump. In January, the British Parliament debated banning Trump in response to a petition that gathered well over half a million signatures. In Britain, the reason for the proposed Donald Trump ban was the former reality TV star’s hateful speech against Muslims the world over. Donald Trump responded to the ban threat with a threat of his own. Namely, he said he would cancel millions of dollars of planned investments/improvements to his golf courses in Scotland.

Despite the Mexican president’s harsh criticism of Donald Trump today, it seems unlikely that the nation will ban the billionaire outright. At least that’s the gist derived from a statement made by president Peña Nieto’s chief of staff Francisco Guzmán.

“Anyone who becomes president of the United States will have to work with Mexico. It would be difficult to reverse 20 years of integration.”

As the 2016 presidential primaries, and ultimately the general election, loom ever closer, it remains to be seen who will be chosen to lead the United States beginning in 2016. It also remains to be seen whether or not the damage done by Donald Trump to U.S./Mexican relations, as mentioned by the Mexican president, can be overcome or how long such a process might take.

[Image Courtesy Of @IndianCanadians/Twitter]

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