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."
-
6 lovely barn homesFeature Featuring a New Jersey homestead on 63 acres and California property with a silo watchtower
-
Film reviews: ‘Marty Supreme’ and ‘Is This Thing On?’Feature A born grifter chases his table tennis dreams and a dad turns to stand-up to fight off heartbreak
-
Political cartoons for December 14Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include a new White House flag, Venezuela negotiations, and more
-
Senate votes down ACA subsidies, GOP alternativeSpeed Read The Senate rejected the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, guaranteeing a steep rise in health care costs for millions of Americans
-
Abrego García freed from jail on judge’s orderSpeed Read The wrongfully deported man has been released from an ICE detention center
-
Indiana Senate rejects Trump’s gerrymander pushSpeed Read The proposed gerrymander would have likely flipped the state’s two Democratic-held US House seats
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
