WASHINGTON: Trump likes to brag about being tough with world leaders but he may have bungled his first chance to prove it when he met Mexico’s Enrique Pena Nieto on Wednesday. He may, in fact, have been played by the seasoned politician, who is running low in polls and surprised friends and foes alike by inviting Trump, and Hillary Clinton, to Mexico.
Throwing open a remarks only press appearance, a self-assured Trump said the wall along the border with Mexico, his pet immigration project, was discussed but not who will pay for it, which has been his campaign’s signature theme.
To allies and supporters, Trump may have seemed deliberately statesmanlike, addressing an issue in stages, and not rushing it, as his advisers and supporters tired of his gaffes had wanted to see so desperately. And the fact that he generally held himself well against a genuinely elected president, which he did remarkably well, even his worst critics seemed impressed.
Opponents, however, accused Trump of “folding under pressure”. Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine called it Trump’s “diplomatic amateur hour” in a TV interview Thursday and that it “tells me something about his backbone” and demonstrated “kind of a diplomatic lack of resolve”.
And payment for the wall did come up. No sooner had Trump’s jet cleared Mexican airspace, Pena Nieto let it be known through his official spokesman that payment was discussed, and he had pushed back. He followed that up with a tweet, in Spanish: “At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall.”
{{/usCountry}}And payment for the wall did come up. No sooner had Trump’s jet cleared Mexican airspace, Pena Nieto let it be known through his official spokesman that payment was discussed, and he had pushed back. He followed that up with a tweet, in Spanish: “At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall.”
{{/usCountry}}This was not an innocent cross-border mix up. And Pena Nieto is not a fan of Trump, having compared his anti-Mexico/ anti-Hispanic rhetoric to that of Hitler and Mussolini.