This Donald Trump satire is a big hit in Mexico


After campaigning for months on the promise to build a wall to keep Mexican "rapists" and "criminals" out of the United States, it might be surprising to hear Donald Trump actually has quite a few fans in Mexico. Then again, they're not so much fans of Trump himself as they are of his portrayal in the satirical play Los Hijos de Trump, or Sons of Trump.
"Mexicans laugh at our tragedies," explained one of the play's cast members, German Ortega, to The Washington Post. Sons of Trump, which the cast claims doesn't have a specific political agenda but rather satirizes the entire upper class, takes its portrayal of the American billionaire and presidential candidate to the extreme:
The first taste the Mexican audience gets of Donald Trump is his golden head speaking from the face of a giant $100 bill, calling them "frijoleros" ("beaners") and bragging about the wall that will block them from setting foot in the United States.Trump and his bewigged followers only get more cartoonishly evil from there: tossing crumpled up bills at servants and drinks in waiters' faces, stealing from the blind, bribing the police, while snorting mountains of cocaine and ingesting exotic cures for impotency. [The Washington Post]
The troupe reports that Trump has had an unexpectedly positive effect on the very people he rages against. "More than anything else it set off something really cool for Latinos: unity," Ortega said. "He's been able to bring together the Mexican people and all Latinos."
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The show is touring Mexico and will be making a stop in Texas; later, the troupe hopes to expand to Los Angeles and Chicago. Jeva Lange
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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