Buddy, you’re in a tight spot. A lot of people in Mexico are not happy with you for inviting Donald Trump in the first place, because the visit could further legitimize Trump’s racist attacks on Mexicans and Mexican immigrants.
This legitimizes Trump & his xenophobia & sends the message that there is no cost bashing Mexico & Mexican migrantshttps://t.co/NXBLO2bKnj
— Arturo Sarukhan (@Arturo_Sarukhan) August 31, 2016
Only 23 percent of voters approve of the job you’re doing, so standing tall to an enemy of the country probably can’t make things much worse. And you should stand tall!
But here’s one thing you shouldn’t do: tell Trump he should apologize. A lot of people think that getting Trump to apologize is the only way that you can come out on top. Jorge Ramos, who is smart, said as much yesterday. “High risk: Mexicans would not forgive [Peña Nieto] for remaining silent before Trump. [Peña Nieto] has to demand an apology from [Trump},” he tweeted. But you should never ask Donald Trump to apologize. Call it the Jeb Bush rule.
See, during one of the debates last fall, Jeb demanded that Trump apologize for saying that Jeb had a soft spot for Mexico because his wife was born there. Trump was basically like, “No way, man” and Jeb just stood there and took it because what else do you do when someone refuses to apologize? You can only come across as being weak and we all know what happened to Jeb Bush. (Right now he’s sitting in the dark reading a Malcolm Gladwell book on his Apple Watch.)
Don’t end up like Jeb.