Trump Attends Impromptu Meeting with Mexican President

Trump Meets Wednesday with Nieto

by Josh Guckert

Donald Trump is traveling Wednesday to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Nieto reportedly sent invitations to both the Republican and Democrat Hillary Clinton. The meeting is particularly significant for the former, as his stance on Mexican immigration has been one of the centerpieces of his Presidential campaign.

The Republican candidate has become infamous for planning to build a wall along the Southern U.S. border and to make Mexico pay for that barrier. Nieto has noted that, “There is no way that Mexico can pay (for) a wall like that.” The Mexican President has also compared his speeches to those of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.

He said of Trump’s rhetoric, “That’s how Mussolini got in, that’s how Hitler got in. They took advantage of a situation, a problem perhaps.” On the same topic, Nieto said on another occasion that the world is at times “presented with political actors and political leaders who assume populist and demagogic positions.”

The Clinton campaign responded to news of the meeting, saying:

From the first days of his campaign, Donald Trump has painted Mexicans as ‘rapists’ and criminals and has promised to deport 16 million people, including children and US citizens. He has said we should force Mexico to pay for his giant border wall. He has said we should ban remittances to families in Mexico if Mexico doesn’t pay up. What ultimately matters is what Donald Trump says to voters in Arizona, not Mexico, and whether he remains committed to the splitting up of families and deportation of millions.

As the Clinton campaign states, Trump’s immigration rhetoric has disenfranchised many Hispanic voters across the United States. There is no news yet of when Clinton will also meet with Nieto, though it is likely to be soon.

Watch Nieto Discuss Trump’s Wall Proposal on CNN in July: