Ok, I don’t approve of the language. Let me make sure that’s out of the way before anything else.
That being said, former Mexican President Vincente Fox is coming hard at President-elect Trump, signaling that the war of words that began during the 2016 election season still burns bright.
“Trump may ask whoever he wants, but still neither myself nor Mexico are going to pay for his racist monument,” Fox tweeted earlier in the week. “Another promise he can’t keep.”
Just to be clear – there’s nothing inherently racist about border security. In fact, it’s a necessity in this dangerous age.
What is racist is Trump’s characterization of immigrants as rapists and murderers. Sadly, rapists and murderers are a curse that is common to all mankind. So whether his point behind his initial characterization was just an unfortunate choice of words, or how he actually feels, he definitely could have expressed the need for border security more responsibly.
This afternoon, Fox pumped it up with a further tweet (and again, excuse the language):
TRUMP, when will you understand that I am not paying for that fucken wall. Be clear with US tax payers. They will pay for it.
— Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) January 6, 2017
In spite of the salty language, the former president may have a point.
Reports emerged Thursday evening that Trump was coordinating with House Republican lawmakers to build the proposed wall using U.S. taxpayer dollars, despite his campaign pledge that Mexico would pay for the project.
Trump on Friday appeared to concede that American taxpayers would foot the initial bill for the wall. In a tweet blasting the “dishonest media,” Trump wrote that “any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later.”
Get that? Later.
No word on how much later. This is a decided departure from the core platform of Trump’s campaign.
For a year and a half: WE ARE GOING TO BUILD THAT WALL, AND MEXICO IS GOING TO PAY FOR IT!
Now that he’s won: Sure, we’ll build a wall with your tax dollars now, and Mexico will pay for it later.
That he didn’t define “later” gives him some wiggle room, I suppose. Keeping his promises ambiguous is likely to be the hallmark of his presidency.
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