Former Mexican President Vicente Fox said Wednesday that Mexico rejects Donald Trump, calling Mr. Trump’s trip to meet President Enrique Peña Nieto a “political stunt.”
“He is not welcome to Mexico. By 130 million people, we don’t like him. We don’t want him. We reject his visit,” Mr. Fox said on CNN’s “New Day.”
“I don’t understand why President Peña has offered this opportunity. I think it’s nothing more than a political stunt,” he said.
The Trump campaign is casting the Wednesday meeting as a presidential move and is working to contrast it with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s relative absence from the public campaign trail recently.
“I think that President Peña is taking an enormous political risk by hosting Trump,” Mr. Fox said. “If he’s perceived as going soft on Trump, it will hurt him greatly. He would even be considered like a traitor because we don’t accept to be offended.”
“It’s a very opportunistic move, and I hope U.S. public opinion, U.S. citizens can see this, and finally see what is behind Trump, this false prophet,” he said.
“It’s a desperate move, and I don’t see how it can work at all,” he said.
It’s not the first time Mr. Fox has spoken out against Mr. Trump. He had previously used an expletive to forcefully declare he wasn’t going to pay for Mr. Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall, though he later apologized for the crass language.
“I saw him make the statement. I saw him use the word that he used,” Mr. Trump said at a February debate. “I can only tell you, if I would have used even half of that word, it would have been national scandal. This guy used a filthy, disgusting word on television, and he should be ashamed of himself and he should apologize, OK?”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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