Trump declared victory Friday in his unprovoked threat of tariffs against Mexico, claiming to have made a deal for Mexico to stem the flow of illegal immigration into the USA. What. A. Load. Of. Crap.
To be sure, “Trump Lies” is no longer a stop the presses story, if ever it was. But even his own State Department, under the tender mercies of loyal poodle, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, made no pretense, in a joint statement with Mexico issued on the matter, that Trump’s tariff bullying had induced Mexico to do a single thing that our Southern neighbor wasn’t already doing rather vigorously.
Mexico’s only seemingly significant undertaking in the agreement involves beefing up the Mexican National Guard’s presence on the nation’s Southern border. But but that’s illusory. While Trump’s tariff threats were still hanging and bilateral talks were still ongoing, Mexico had already announced it was moving National Guard elements Southward. Note as well that Mexico announced, months ago, an expansion of its National Guard by 60,000 troops in order to address a full spectrum of security matters. Occam’s Razor inclines one to attribute the Mexican National Guard movements, announced Thursday, to existing programs, plans and policies of the new Mexican government rather than to the mythical negotiating prowess of Donald J. Trump.
Donald promised his cult an immigration and trade victory over Mexico and all they got was a bag of his farts.