Politics: What was the President thinking?
Why did President Peña Nieto decide on such a huge and ultimately costly political gamble in hastily rolling out the diplomatic carpet for his high profile meeting with Donald Trump last week? The political blowback has been searing, with an initial opinion survey showing that over 80% of Mexicans say it was a mistake, an opinion shared by a similarly overwhelming share of comments in social media, the country’s editorial and opinion pages, and reportedly even among some of the most senior members of President Peña’s cabinet.
The president has defended his actions based on the idea that it was in the country’s interest to open a direct dialogue with the Republican presidential nominee in the hopes of helping him to understand how offensive his comments have been to the Mexican people and the importance of strong bilateral relations to both Mexico and the United States. Trump’s predictable response came just hours after his stop in Mexico City in the form of his hard-line campaign speech in Phoenix, Arizona.
It is more likely that the President was convinced by his finance minister’s reported arguments that an overture to Trump might help ease financial market uncertainty. However, a Trump victory this fall would stoke financial volatility no matter what, at a time when the Peña administration itself has increasingly become an element of market uncertainty.
Whatever the case, Trump’s visit proved highly toxic for the government. Can the damage be repaired? The Peña government’s ability to climb out of the political hole it dug for itself depends largely upon the possible actions of others. A pre-November visit by Hillary Clinton might help, but it appears that the Clinton campaign is in no hurry to run to Peña’s rescue.
What may have been conceived of as a visionary diplomatic maneuver for re-positioning the image of the president has turned into an utter political disaster for the government, which gained little or nothing on the international stage and paid a heavy price internally. This was perhaps the most costly unforced error this administration has ever committed and one that will probably have repercussions for a long time to come.
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