Recently, “informed opinion” has protested the leaking of the transcripts of conversations that President Trump had with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Sure, the transcripts show that Donald Trump is an amazing colossal asshole/amazing colossal dick. We knew that! And now foreign leaders will be afraid to speak honestly and openly in future conversations, not just with Donald Trump but virtually any high-level American official.
Okay, point taken. Fine. But consider the following: Donald Trump became president of these star-crossed, hagridden—or, rather, Trump-ridden—United States by promising, over and over again, to build a “beautiful wall” between the U.S. and Mexico and make Mexico pay for it. He was pushing this line before he officially declared his candidacy, and there’s no doubt that the wild reception this crass and gross blast of ignorant, racist xenophobia obtained from Republican audiences, who exploded like Old Faithful at its every mention, convinced Trump that the Republican Party was rotten fruit ripe for the taking.
And now what do we learn? What only the most “cynical” could have expected. Here is Trump on the wall: “Believe it or not, this is the least important thing that we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important talk about. But in terms of dollars—or pesos—it is the least important thing.”
Right, the least important thing. So who should pay for it, assuming it’s ever built? “We should both say, ‘We will work it out.’ It will work out in the formula somehow. As opposed to you saying, ‘We will not pay,’ and me saying, ‘We will not pay.’ ”
Sure, because a soft answer turneth away wrath, not to mention yahoos. But here’s the deal breaker: “if you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that.”
Right, it’s only fair that the Mexican president should ruin his reputation with the Mexican electorate so that Big Donald can continue lying his ass off to the American electorate.
Excuse me, but how is this not an issue? The next time the word “wall” is mentioned in either house of Congress Democrats should be all over this—yet another true confession from Donald “Hey folks! I’m guilty!” Trump.
Afterwords
Remember that when a “hot mike” caught Obama telling Putin he would have “more flexibility after the next election” the Republicans screamed bloody murder for the next four years, despite the fact that Obama’s statement was 1) obviously true and 2) exactly the sort of thing one head of government/state would say to another? And now we have the president of the Unithed States trying to “order” the president of Mexico to lie on his behalf in order to deceive the people who put him in office. Hypocrisy much, GOP?
