'60 Minutes' Interview of Mexican President Reveals a Lot About Our 'Friends' to the South

You might assume that any "60 Minutes" interview would amount to a puffy softball-lobbing affair with some known left-wing politician or celebrity. Unless, of course, it is some random and rare conservative they can play a game of "gotcha" with. But on Sunday, CBS News' Sharyn Alfonsi interviewed Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. What Obrador had to say about fentanyl coming across the southern border from Mexico and the border crisis itself was a perfect study of the idea that just because someone is your neighbor doesn't necessarily mean they're your friend. It is also an example of just how weak America appears on the world stage.

The head of the DEA says Mexican cartels are mass producing fentanyl that’s entering the U.S., but the president of Mexico lays part of the blame on the U.S. https://t.co/04SjI3K3EC pic.twitter.com/i7ygnqFmCY
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 25, 2024

During the interview, Alfonsi hit Obrador with statements from the State Department and the Drug Enforcement Agency about fentanyl streaming across the border, saying, “The head of the DEA says cartels are mass-producing fentanyl, and the U.S. State Department has said that most of it is coming out of Mexico. Are they wrong?” Obrador makes what looks like a Freudian slip and says "yes," but immediately catches himself and blames the U.S. for the fentanyl stream: “Yes, or rather, they don’t have all the information, because fentanyl is also produced in the United States."

To her credit, Alfonsi pushed back and stated, “The State Department says most of it’s coming from Mexico." It was here that Obrador tried to take some of the onus off of Mexico by saying that there was not the level of drug consumption in Mexico that there is in the U.S. because of "family disintegration." He did not mention why sending children across the border alone did not constitute "family disintegration."

“Fentanyl is produced in the United States, in Canada and in Mexico. And the chemical precursors come from Asia. You know why we don’t have the drug consumption that you have in the United States? Because we have customs, traditions, and we don’t have the problem of the disintegration of the family.”

Alfonsi pressed on and said, “But there is drug consumption in Mexico," to which Obrador automatically replied, “But very little." Alfonsi then presses Obrador to explain all of the drug violence in Mexico and asks, “So why the violence, then, in Mexico?” Obrador then has a kind of Bill Clinton "It all depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is" moment and says, “Because drug trafficking exists, but not the consumption." Oh! Well, when you explain it that way... One reason Obrador may have for not wanting to take any responsibility for the fentanyl traffic could stem from an investigation by U.S. officials of allegations that allies of Obrador took millions of dollars from drug cartels after he assumed office in 2018. But the investigation never went anywhere, and Obrador denied any wrongdoing, saying the accusations were "completely false." Border Patrol seized roughly 27,000 pounds of fentanyl at the border in fiscal year 2023.

🚨BREAKING: The President of Mexico has made demands and says that if they are not met, he will continue to send illegals into our country.

1. We are to pay $20 billion a year to poor countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

2. We are to lift sanctions on Venezuela, the… pic.twitter.com/MXJxXdnnjd
— 🇺🇸 Larry 🇺🇸 (@LarryDJonesJr) March 25, 2024

But when it came to the stream of illegal immigrants across the southern border, Obrador actually had a brazen list of demands that he says is his solution to the U.S-Mexico border crisis:

1. We are to pay $20 billion a year to poor countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

2. We are to lift sanctions on Venezuela,

3. We are to end the Cuban embargo.

4. We are now to legalize law-abiding Mexicans living in the U.S.

But the best part of this hostage negotiation, the U.S. being the unwitting hostage, was Obrador's very blunt response when Alfonsi asked what if these demands are not met. Obrador had no problem stating, "The flow of migrants will continue." Alfonsi then asks, "If they (the U.S.) don't do those things, will you continue to help to secure the border?" Obrador says, "Yes, because our relationship is very important. It is fundamental." President Andrés Manuel López Obrador obviously realizes that, as long as Joe Biden is the president, he can continue to strongarm the U.S. and send millions of illegal immigrants across the border because the U.S.-Mexico relationship is "important and fundamental," and the Biden administration will do nothing to stop it.

Important and fundamental to whom? Who is getting the better deal out of this relationship? Hint: it is certainly not the U.S.

Perhaps we should be glad that President Obrador feels like he can be so candid with the American media. With friends like this, who needs enemies?

When Trump was President, Mexico helped us fight the Mexican cartels and stop mass illegal immigration. But now, our country is held hostage and Mexico demands bribe money because Biden is all too happy to sell out American border security. I’ve met with Obrador, he’s a fool and… pic.twitter.com/spOLJIYPvs
— Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne (@RepBethVanDuyne) March 25, 2024