Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto will dust off the red carpet to greet Donald Trump this afternoon (Aug. 30), but Mexican citizens are not expressing quite the same welcome.
The US Republican presidential candidate has long disparaged Mexico, and the country’s widespread outrage at his visit is being channeled in the hashtag #NoEresBienvenidoTrump: “You are not welcome, Trump.”
Some are shooing him away even before his arrival.
The invitation may be a gaffe of monumental proportions by the Mexican president, whose approval ratings were already abysmal. “Call your ex, tell your boss his truths, give yourself a tattoo with a razor blade, today the Mexican presidency already beat us with ‘the worst decision of the day,'” reads this tweet.
Some expressed horrified shock, represented here in dramatic telenovela, or soap opera style.
Followed by condemnation, including from some well-known intellectuals.
Enrique Peña Nieto has turned into “propaganda piece for the country’s worst enemy,” tweeted Jesús Silva-Herzog, a member of the Mexican Academy of Language.
Peña Nieto’s opponents, including likely 2018 presidential candidate Margarita Zavala, were quick to try to profit. The wife of former president Felipe Calderón, of the conservative PAN party, was polite, but firm.
“Mr. Donald Trump, even though you have been invited, please know that you are not welcome. We Mexicans have dignity and repudiate your hate speech.”
Arne aus den Ruthen, former city manager of one of Mexico City’s biggest boroughs known for his confrontational policing style, had some advice for Peña Nieto. “The only way that the meeting ends well,” he tweeted, “is that you rip off the toupee and take him to the Angel (of Independence monument in Mexico City, Mexicans’ designated venting grounds.)”
Others, too, encouraged Peña Nieto to make it clear to Trump how Mexicans feel about him.
But for others, the only sensical thing to do was leave the matter to divine authorities.
“There’s no point in asking how on earth they thought about the meeting Trump-Peña Nieto, all that is left is to pray…”