Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has joined the growing chorus of voices worldwide condemning Republican presidential contender Donald Trump.
Pena Nieto, whose country is at the center of Trump's pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and to make Mexico pay for it, does not see Mexico succumbing to Trump's demands any time soon, telling the Excelsior newspaper that there is "no scenario" under which Mexico would pay for the wall. This follows a comment from Mexico's finance minister Luis Videgaray, who last week called Trump's wall a "terrible" idea.
The Mexican president also had a sobering analysis of the electoral support that Trump is enjoying in the United States. Joining his predecessors Felipe Calderon and Vicente Fox — both former presidents of Mexico — Pena Nieto likened Trump's rise to that of 20th century fascism:
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"And there have been episodes in human history, unfortunately, where these expressions of this strident rhetoric have only led to very ominous situations in the history of humanity," the Mexican president added."That's how Mussolini got in, that's how Hitler got in, they took advantage of a situation, a problem perhaps, which humanity was going through at the time, after an economic crisis."And I think what [they] put forward ended up at what we know today from history, in global conflagration. We don't want that happening anywhere in the world," Pena Nieto said. [Reuters]
Comparisons to Hitler and Mussolini aside, Pena Nieto says he has not ruled out working with a President Trump. According to Reuters, the Mexican president "stressed that his administration will seek to reach agreement and maintain a respectful relationship with whoever wins the U.S. presidency."
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacyFeature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
