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Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Maybe They'll Get A Discount On The Wall

Donald Trump is meeting in Mexico with the president of that country.  It's an amazing event and it shows why Trump is correct when he says that he can get Mexico to pay for the wall he wants to build.

First, consider for a moment why the president of Mexico would get involved in the US elections.  Surely, Hillary Clinton cannot look kindly on this meeting.  It will resolve nothing, but it will give Trump a chance to get a great many headlines and to look presidential.  No matter how the Democrats spin the meeting, it should be a net plus for Trump.  Remember, Hillary's entire campaign these days has been "Trump is bad and I am not Trump."  If Trump can get more of the voters to look at him as a possible president, then Hillary's campaign dissolves and she will be forced to do the one thing she cannot:  come forward with policy reasons for her election.  So we have the president of Mexico providing help to Trump in his bid for the presidency.  Why? 

Maybe, the Mexican leader is hoping to attack Trump at the meeting and to sabotage his campaign.  I seriously doubt that.  The Mexicans can read the polls as well as anyone else.  They can see that right now Hillary is something like 4 or 5% ahead nationally and they understand that numbers like those could easily switch particularly given the fact that there are 10-13% undecided (who normally would break strongly against the party in power.)  Just think of the problems for Mexico if Trump wins after the Mexican president tries to stop him.  After all, Mexico is heavily reliant on the USA and hostile actions in Washington could cause a calamity in Mexico City.

More likely, the Mexican president is trying to gain some favor with Trump should he win.  Indeed, earlier this year, there was a stir when our Mexican friend said some rather nasty things about Trump.  My guess is that he is trying to erase those nasty statements from Trump's memory.

The point of all this is that we are getting an acknowledgement from Mexico that it understands that it had better stay on good terms with the USA and its leader.  In other words, when Trump says that he will get Mexico to pay for the wall, he is probably right.  Oh, there won't be a check written in payment, but one way or another, the cost of the wall will be subsidized by the Mexicans.

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