On Tuesday night, Donald Trump announced that he would be making a last minute trip to Mexico to visit with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. Trump made the announcement, naturally, on Twitter.
I have accepted the invitation of President Enrique Pena Nieto, of Mexico, and look very much forward to meeting him tomorrow.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 31, 2016
The Mexican government has also confirmed the meeting, which will be private.
El Señor @realDonaldTrump ha aceptado esta invitación y se reunirá mañana en privado con el Presidente @EPN.
— Presidencia México (@PresidenciaMX) August 31, 2016
The meeting could also be a bit awkward. In a March interview with Excelsior, a Mexico City newspaper, Nieto compared Trump with Hitler and Mussolini.
There have been episodes in human history, unfortunately, where these expressions of this strident rhetoric have only led to very ominous situations in the history of humanity. That’s how Mussolini got in, that’s how Hitler got in — they took advantage of a situation, a problem perhaps, which humanity was going through at the time, after an economic crisis. And I think what (they) put forward ended up at what we know today from history, in global conflagration. We don’t want that happening anywhere in the world.
Trump famously launched his campaign by describing Mexican immigrants as “rapists.” Since that time he has insisted that he will build a wall across the entire southern border and get the Mexican government to pay for it.
Nieto has categorically rejected the idea. “There is no scenario,” he said.
The New York Times called the meeting a “conciliatory gesture.” But at least one Congressman thinks it’s a trap.
President Nieto should be prepared to explain to his country when Donald Trump announces that Mexico has agreed to pay for the wall.
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) August 31, 2016
Trump has scheduled the trip hours before a much-anticipated speech on immigration in Arizona. In recent days, Trump and his campaign staff have articulated a variety of conflicting messages about whether his plans to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants with a “deportation force” are changing.