Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine said Donald Trump chickened out during his Wednesday meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, calling Mr. Trump’s quick international trip a “diplomatic embarrassment.”
“Donald Trump paid a little fly-by to Mexico, he walked into a meeting with the Mexican president, and after saying for months, ’we’re going to build a wall and Mexico’s going to pay for it,’ he just forgot to bring that up?” Mr. Kaine said Thursday on “CBS This Morning.”
“No, he didn’t have the guts to look the Mexican president in the eye and bring up the central position in his campaign,” Mr. Kaine said. “It was a diplomatic embarrassment, and it shows that the guy’s not ready for prime time.”
Standing next to Mr. Pena Nieto Wednesday after their meeting, Mr. Trump said the issue of who would pay for his U.S.-Mexico border wall didn’t come up in their meeting.
The Mexican president later tweeted that he made it clear that Mexico would not pay for the wall. After that, the Trump campaign issued a general statement saying a “negotiation” would have been “inappropriate.”
By Wednesday evening and into Thursday, Mr. Trump was saying once more that Mexico will, in fact, pay for the wall.
“We will build a great wall along the southern border,” Mr. Trump said in a speech in Arizona Wednesday, prompting sustained cheers and applause from his supporters. “And Mexico will pay for the wall.”
“Mexico will pay for the wall!” Mr. Trump tweeted Thursday.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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