Mexicans begin to unite in fight against Donald Trump’s plans
Mexicans are beginning to debate how to fight back against U.S. President Donald Trump‘s aggressive stance on trade and immigration. Prominent political figures have suggested the country expel U.S. law enforcement agents, stop detaining Central American migrants or no longer inspect northbound trucks for drug shipments. Some activist groups on Friday were calling for a boycott of American brands. Former President Felipe Calderon said Thursday that “we have to design a policy of retaliation” for Trump’s proposed plans, which include making Mexico pay for the border wall he wants to build. “We have to put U.S. security issues under review … including the presence of (U.S.) agents” on Mexican soil, Calderon told local news media. The comments came after current President Enrique Pena Nieto scrapped a planned Tuesday meeting with Trump after the American president tweeted that it would be better to cancel if Mexico wasn’t willing to pay for his proposed wall. Ruben Aguilar, a political consultant who was spokesman for former President Vicente Fox, noted Friday that Mexico has been stopping Central American migrants before they reach the U.S. border “as part of the logic between two friendly countries.” He suggested that Mexico could say, “Okay, I’m not going to stop Central Americans anymore,” and added, “Now if our two countries aren’t friends anymore, that is a card we could play to increase the pressure.” “Drugs are another” possible card, Aguilar said. “If you want to stop them with your wall, well we won’t stop them anymore, let them go through.” Trump appeared to try to defuse the spat between the two countries Friday, saying, “Great respect for Mexico, I love the Mexican people.” “We have really, I think, a very good relationship, the president and I, and we had a talk that lasted for about an hour this morning, and we are going to be working on a fair relationship,” Trump said. The office of the Mexican president confirmed the call, calling it “constructive and productive,” but did not specifically mention the wall or other policies proposed by Trump it doesn’t agree with. Pena Nieto’s government instead stressed “the need for both countries to continue working together to stop the trafficking of drugs and the flow of illegal weapons.” “Both presidents recognized their clear and very public differences on this very sensitive issue, and agreed to solve those differences as part of an integrated discussion of all aspects of the bilateral relationship,” Pena Nieto’s office said. “The two presidents also agreed, for the moment, to no longer speak publicly about this controversial topic.” On Friday afternoon, Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim called for “national unity” in the face of Trump’s hostility, and said the country should have a measured response “without getting angry but without surrendering.” Slim called for a “modern, not protectionist” national program of substituting imported products, the vast majority of which come from the United States. But he stopped short of calling for a boycott of American goods. “I think it is an error to think about boycotting companies,” Slim said. “What we should do instead is buy what is produced in Mexico.” A coalition of Mexican farm and consumer groups, however, did call for such a boycott when it raised the battle flag on Jan. 18, two days before Trump took office. The campaign’s slogan — “Consumers cry war!” — echoes the first line of Mexico’s national anthem as it calls on Mexicans to buy national products. “The statements and threats from the U.S. president-elect are irrational and unacceptable, but they should awaken a rational response, and lead us to radically change in our model of national development, and recover sovereignty over our food system,” the coalition said in a statement. In a country where U.S. chain restaurants, coffee shops and stores are now ubiquitous, social media users created long strings of hashtags such as #AdiosStarbucks #AdiosCostco, #AdiosWalmart, #AdiosMcDonalds, #AdiosProductosGringos , #ConsumoProductosMexicanos. Peter Schechter, senior vice president for strategic initiatives at the Atlantic Council, said the dispute may awaken underlying currents of resentment in Mexico. The U.S. took away almost half of Mexico’s territory in the 1848 Mexican-American War, though that historic resentment had faded in the last three decades. “All this does is to solidify the view that an attempt to negotiate with the United States under this administration is impossible, and that we should break from the United States,” Schechter said. “This argument has moved from incredulous, to possible in people’s minds. The next step is it moves from possible, to the right thing, and that step is not that far.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Donald Trump belittles accusers as more turn up with sordid stories
Donald Trump acted out onstage an accuser’s allegations and suggested another wasn’t worthy of his attention the same day two more women came forward with years-old stories of unwanted sexual encounters with the Republican presidential nominee. With eight women accusing Trump of unwanted kissing, groping or more, the New York businessman maintained his innocence and his denunciation of opponent Hillary Clinton and an international media conspiracy aimed at denying him the White House. “100 percent fabricated and made-up charges, pushed strongly by the media and the Clinton Campaign, may poison the minds of the American Voter. FIX!” Trump tweeted on Saturday morning. Clinton maintained a relatively low profile as Trump stormed, but more hacked emails from WikiLeaks raised anew questions about her private versus public pronouncements. Those released Friday showed her campaign had asked former President Bill Clinton to cancel a speech to an investment firm last year because of concerns that the Clintons might appear to be too cozy with Wall Street just as she was about to announce her candidacy. Such revelations were no match for the sordid new accusations against Trump. Summer Zervos, a former contestant from Trump’s NBC show “The Apprentice,” said the series’ star became sexually aggressive at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2007. He kissed her open-mouthed and touched her breasts in a private room, she said during a news conference. Late Friday night, the Trump campaign released a statement in which a cousin of Zervos said he was “shocked and bewildered” by her account. John Barry of Mission Viejo, California, said Zervos “wishes she could still be on reality TV, and in an effort to get that back she’s saying all of these negative things about Mr. Trump.” In response, Summer’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, said in a statement that Barry worked at Zervos’ family restaurant until several months ago, “when his employment ended. Since then he has expressed hostility and ill will toward Summer.” In a story published online Friday, Kristin Anderson told The Washington Post that she was sitting on a couch with friends at a New York nightclub in the early 1990s when a hand reached up her skirt and touched her through her underwear. She said she pushed the hand away, turned around and recognized Trump as the man who had groped her. Trump called his accusers liars and “sick” women seeking fame or money. During a rally in North Carolina, Trump dismissed one of them by saying, “She would not be my first choice, that I can tell you.” In alleging a widespread conspiracy, Trump assailed The New York Times in particular, noting its connection to Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, a major shareholder in the media company. Spokesman Arturo Elias Ayub later said Slim doesn’t know Trump at all “and is not the least bit interested in his personal life.” The WikiLeaks release of emails stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta‘s personal account showed aides having to convince the former first lady to persuade her husband to cancel the Wall Street speech ahead of her campaign rollout. The Clintons’ paid speeches have been an issue throughout the campaign, particularly lucrative speeches to financial interests. In remarks at a fundraiser Friday, Hillary Clinton spoke of a need for national healing. “I take no satisfaction in seeing what Trump does and says because it hurts — it hurts me and it hurts our country,” she said. Polls suggest Trump has fallen further behind Clinton nationally and in most battleground states. Early in-person voting is underway in 20 states, including Ohio, where President Barack Obama railed against Trump a day after first lady Michelle Obama declared in a passionate speech, “Enough is enough.” The Obamas both seized on Trump’s words, captured in a video released last week, bragging about kissing and groping women without their permission. The 70-year-old billionaire has apologized, but also repeatedly dismissed his comments as “locker room talk.” “You don’t have to be a husband or a father to know that that kind of language, those kinds of thoughts, those kinds of actions are unacceptable. They’re not right. You just have to be a decent human being,” President Obama charged in Columbus, Ohio. Even before the mounting allegations, there was evidence that Trump’s troubles were hurting the Republican Party’s ability to raise money. The Republican National Committee has raised about 25 percent less over the past three months than it did over the same period four years ago, when Mitt Romney was atop the ticket. The RNC said Friday that it raised $39.4 million last month, compared to $48.4 million in September 2012. It says it has raised $262.3 million since January 2015, about $20 million more than it had by this time in 2012. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
