Posted on 09/22/2015 10:58:54 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
America’s Southern neighbor is beating up on the real estate mogul. Literally.
While his “Make America Again Great” hats may be the most popular campaign swag north of the Rio Grande, in Mexico the most popular Donald Trump paraphernalia is of a different variety: Piñatas. Ever since announced his entry into the presidential race last June with a thundering tirade against Mexico, Mexicans and immigrants in general Dalton Avalos, a 28-year-old piñata maker from the northern Mexican border city of Reynosa, has been doing a brisk business in candy-filled effigies of Trump.
“I’ve sold something like sixty or seventy since I started making them, they’ve been doing very well,” Avalos tells me. The Facebook page of his workshop is filled with photos of Trump piñatas, most of them depicting the billionaire as a comic book villain: overweight, a big mouth and an outlandish hairstyle, even by Trump standards.
“To me, it’s a way of creatively expressing my anger over his racism and his hatred for Mexico and my people,” Avalos explained. “But it’s also a way to make fun of him. And people love it, my customers have been very supportive.”
Especially in the first weeks after his fiery entrance into the presidential race, the billionaire dominated headlines in every major Mexican newspaper, while his comments would often lead to angrily humorous discussions across the country. In Mexico City’s restaurants and cafeterias, diners would discuss anything from his business ventures (including several failed projects in Mexico) to his perceived hypocrisy (“what about the undocumented Mexicans cleaning his Tower?”) to the horrific prospect of actually having to deal with a President Trump.
As the bombastic candidate continues to lead the polls much longer than many here expected, opinion leaders are now asking themselves what ramifications a Trump-presidency could have for the relationship between both countries. Mexico City newspaper Milenio even started an online debate on Monday, asking readers and commentators what should be done about “the man who managed to makes us miss the Bush clan.”
Members of Mexico’s government have channeled the public mood. Interior secretary Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong called the billionaire’s comments “prejudiced and absurd” and José António Meade, foreign secretary until last month, stated Trump is a “politician who is unaware of the context in which he is participating.” Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto, meanwhile, said in an interview earlier this month that he would not even dignify Trump’s comments with a response.
“I do not wish to be part of the game of someone who claims or aspires to a position of head of state,” the president said.
Mexican businesses, meanwhile, flexed their muscles. Both Televisa, the world’s largest Spanish-language media conglomerate, and a production company owned by the world’s second richest man, Carlos Slim, canceled business ventures with Trump. Mexico and several other Latin American countries even decided not to send candidates to Trump’s Miss Universe competition.
“Donald Trump is now one of the favorite villains of Mexicans,” Roy Campos, president of the Mexico City-based polling firm Consulta Mitofsky, told me. “He has provoked a sense of patriotism and has become the common enemy of the people. People are personally offended, because a third of all Mexicans have relatives living and working in the United States.”
Even if the initial fit of temper has subsided somewhat in recent weeks, many here continue to feel Trump has violently stepped upon what they see as the invaluable contribution of millions of Mexicans to the U.S. economy and society.
“I feel sorry for the man,” my friend Romina Ramírez Rojas, a 31-year-old housewife and resident of the Pacific coastal resort city of Acapulco, tells me. “He showed that he is a rich man, who, at the same time, is poor in moral principles. A large part of his fortune was created thanks to Mexican labor, spending and consumption. Imagine the United States for just one day without Mexicans. Would Trump’s companies be worth what they are now?”
Ramírez says she takes Trump’s remarks personally, because she herself was once an immigrant in the United States. “I travelled all over the United States 10 years ago as a farmhand,” she says. “I was an immigrant looking for work and a better life; I didn’t come to steal.”
Unlike Televisa, Mexicans like Ramirez can’t harness their economic power to take a direct jab at Trump’s business interests, but those without the billions of Carlos Slim can always fall back on a treasured aspect of Mexican culture: an often dark sense humor.
While piñata makers like Dalton Avalos indulge in increasingly outlandish creations, the wildly popular satirical website El Deforma, the Mexican equivalent of The Onion, has stepped up its jocular “coverage” of Trump, including an article ridiculing his birther statements in which the billionaire “admits” he was actually born in the Central Mexico state of Jalisco.
Meanwhile, to Mexican musicians Trump’s candidacy has proven to be a lyrical goldmine. Erika Vidrio, a singer of traditional Mexican music, composed a less-than flattering rap song about him. And musical group Los Tres Tristes Tigres dedicated to Trump a corrido, a type of narrative song often used to vent frustration or admiration of controversial personalities. Its first few lines leave nothing to the imagination: “Normally we write songs for persons / not for impertinent dumbasses.”
Such humorous payback is inherent to the national psyche of a people used to dealing with setbacks and adversity by scoffing, mockery and playful, albeit not very subtle, insults. It also reflects the current general opinion of Mexicans that, as offensive as his comments may be, the best way to deal with Trump is by turning him into a caricature and not take him too seriously.
“I think most Mexicans know that it’s far too early to get too worked up over a character who has spent most of his life surrounded by cameras,” says Jesús Esquivel, a correspondent in Washington, D.C., for Proceso, a Mexico City-based opinion weekly. “We tend to react to these things with derision, it’s part of our culture. We’re the only country in the world where we make fun of death, perhaps because of our tragic history.”
Jokes aside, most Mexicans scarcely follow the Republican primaries. An afternoon of asking around in Mexico City early last week resulted in not a single resident aware of Wednesday’s Republican debate and no interest whatsoever in watching it. And as far as GOP candidates go, most Mexicans know of only Donald Trump and Jeb Bush, the latter mostly for being the brother of the unloved George W. and for having a Mexican wife.
“This is the eighth time I’m covering the elections in the United States and I don’t think Mexico and immigration have ever played such an antagonistic role in the primaries,” Esquivel tells me. “But regardless, we Mexicans are well aware that we shouldn’t look too much at foreign elections, even those in the United States.”
“Common Mexicans don’t follow the primaries and, Trump aside, aren’t interested in what the candidates have to say. It’s not something people generally talk about,” Campos, the pollster, adds. “There is anger over Trump’s comments when it comes up in conversation or appears on social media, but it’s more part of our folklore, another reason to make jokes.”
To some, however, Trump’s meteoric rise and persistent lead in the polls is still a cause for concern, especially in the border region, which is heavily dependent economically on smooth relations between the United States and Mexico. Last week, 70 mayors of municipalities bordering the United States jointly issued the Declaration of Ciudad Juárez, in which they condemned Trump’s policy plans and his perceived “xenophobic displays.”
“We deeply deplore these expressions that do not improve the strength of bilateral relations, to which end our two countries have worked during their entire history,” Enrique Serrano, mayor of Ciudad Juárez, added. “We have political, and social relations, common problems at the border and we are always obliged to cordially and harmoniously work together, because we’re neighbors.”
“To be honest, I am beginning to feel a little uneasy,” Genaro Lozano, a columnist for Reforma, a Mexico City newspaper, tells me. “Many Mexicans did not think he would be able to compete in the primaries, and the fact that he’s still on top in the polls is starting to generate some concern.”
According to Lozano and others, it’s not so much the prospect of Trump actually winning the presidency, which many still deem highly unlikely, but the effects his comments could have on American public opinion in general.
“What worries me most is the kind of xenophobia that Trump’s comments generate in the United States,” says Genaro Lozano, a columnist for Reforma, a Mexico City newspaper. “I lived and studied in the United States for five years, and I’ve seen prejudice and racism towards Mexicans and immigrants in general firsthand. Trump’s comments resonate so much, because they express feelings the feelings of many Americans. His candidacy can make those stronger.”
Moreover, some fear a possible Trump presidency could have severe economic consequences; Mexican remittances from the United States amounted to almost $15 billion in the first half of this year, overtaking oil income for the first time in 15 years. That huge flow of money, indispensable to many families in Mexico, could be at risk in the hypothetical scenario of Trump becoming president and delivering on his promise to crack down on undocumented immigrants.
“As foreigners we obviously can’t vote in the U.S. elections, so the only thing Mexicans can do to react is make fun of Trump or just ignore hum,” says Lozano. “He lives off controversy, and we shouldn’t give him more than he already had.”
If mexico hates him then he’s definitely my man.
If mexico hates him then he’s definitely my man.
Yes. IMAGINE!
Imagine the United States for just one day without illegal invader Mexicans.
Much less crime.
Nearly full employment for native Americans.
No illegal Mexican bums stealing our benefits.
Trump is imagining a lifetime of no illegal Mexicans.
That's why he's winning in the polls.
The Mexicans aren’t hearing the truth of what he said.
Soon there will be MORE people in Mexico who don’t like Trump - cause we’re gonna sent a few million of them back home...
I have, and it's beautiful.
Well, first of all, you’re Dutch. So,....
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