Donald Trump To Visit Mexico, Will Meet Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto
Donald Trump will travel to Mexico City on Wednesday for a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, and they will be discussing illegal immigration, trade, and drugs in a private meeting, according to Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway. While some people are “flummoxed” about the Trump visit to Mexico, others certainly are not.
Trump tweeted, in fact, that he was very much looking forward to his visit to Mexico.
I have accepted the invitation of President Enrique Pena Nieto, of Mexico, and look very much forward to meeting him tomorrow.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 31, 2016
“One of the things that crossed my mind was Richard Nixon going to China,” CNN contributor Jeffrey Lord said regarding the Trump visit to Mexico. “Where you have a president in that case that was a hardline anti-communist and yet he opened the doors for real change with China.” (See YouTube video below on the conversation.)
https://youtu.be/ZI2qmLlDC-k
On Twitter, reactions to news of the Trump visit to Mexico seemed mixed. Of course, as Maria Bartiromo pointed out in her tweet, this is coming just ahead of Trump’s big immigration speech.
.@MorningsMaria Trump to visit Mexico, meet with Pena Nieto ahead of immigration speech https://t.co/6v5x2FGpTz@FoxBusiness
— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) August 31, 2016
And the Trump visit to Mexico elicited a hopeful tweet from Geraldo Rivera.
@realDonaldTrump hopefully heading to #Mexico where he can begin to repair damage by expressing sound compassionate practical migrant policy
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) August 31, 2016
Writers Alex Burns and Maggie Haberman at the New York Times also reported on the Trump visit to Mexico. They are wondering to the world if the Mexican President Peña Nieto will challenge the brash billionaire just to boost his own sagging ratings with the Mexican people, who have not been as receptive to the longstanding Trump idea to finish building a border wall.
Burns and Habermas also note that the former Mexican president, Vicente Fox, said in an interview on CNN that his successor, Peña Nieto, would be seen “as a traitor” if he did not somehow attack Trump. Peña Nieto had obliged Fox’s demand previously they also write because he has “… compared Mr. Trump’s campaign to the rise of Hitler.”
Trump previously tweeted about an apology from Vicente Fox after a strong reaction to the candidate’s proposed campaign promises.
Former President Vicente Fox, who is railing against my visit to Mexico today, also invited me when he apologized for using the “f bomb.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 31, 2016
Another report from the Fox News outlet has emerged on the Trump visit to Mexico, and it also mentions that the invitation came from President Peña Nieto.
Trump’s Vice Presidential running mate, Mike Pence, was quoted in that story on the matter.
“I think today is more about a relationship.”
The two men are scheduled to discuss illegal immigration, drugs, and trade issues, and the stated also stated that President Peña Nieto first offered the invitation to Mr. Trump. The businessman/2016 U.S. presidential candidate confirmed by late Tuesday that he “accepted the invitation and the two would meet in private Wednesday,” according to the story.
Running mate Mike Pence also said Trump and President Peña Nieto would expect to begin a conversation about the previously scheduled issues.
“He’s going to begin a dialogue with Mexico on issues … that we differ on … but also, issues of common interest.”
The Trump visit to Mexico has perhaps come as a surprise move during a hectic time of the year for campaigns in the U.S., but it seems likely Trump needed to have a conversation with Mexico before he makes another campaign stop to deliver the immigration policy speech previously announced in the border state of Arizona.
[Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/ AP Images]