2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumJosh Marshall: Can Trump Be This Stupid? (Not a Trick Question)
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/can-trump-be-this-stupid-not-a-trick-questionCan Trump Be This Stupid? (Not a Trick Question)
By Josh Marshall
Published August 30, 2016, 11:58 PM EDT
We have news tonight that tomorrow, in advance of his big immigration speech in Arizona, Donald Trump will travel to Mexico City to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. This is such an outlandish idea it is not easy to make sense of it or predict its outcome. But a few key points are worth bearing in mind.
It's a general rule of politics not to enter into unpredictable situations or cede control of an event or happening to someone who wants to hurt you. President Nieto definitely does not want Donald Trump to become President. He probably assumes he won't become president, simply by reading the polls. President Nieto is himself quite unpopular at the moment. But no one is more unpopular than Donald Trump. Trump is reviled. Toadying to Trump would be extremely bad politics; standing up to him, good politics.
Put those factors together and Peña Nieto has massive and overlapping reasons to want to embarrass Trump. At a minimum since he's probably not eager to create a true international incident, he has zero interest in appearing in any way accommodating or helpful. The calculus might be different if Trump seemed likely to be the next US President. Mexico is a minor power with the world colossus on its doorstep. But a Trump presidency seems unlikely. Far likelier, Peña Nieto will need to build a relationship with Hillary Clinton. These factors combined make for an inherently dangerous political situation for Donald Trump, especially since the atmospherics of this meeting will be the backdrop for Trump's evening speech which is itself an incredibly important moment and one in which he has set for himself what is likely an impossible challenge.
And there's more!
Trump is apparently traveling to Mexico with Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Jeff Sessions as his minders. People with the political nimbleness and cultural awareness to manage and massage a good outcome? I should say not. They're also traveling on one or two days notice. It will show.
Remember that the central force of Trump's political brand is dominance politics. Trump commands, people obey. Trump strikes, victims suffer. It will be extremely difficult for him to manage anything like this in the Mexican capital. He comes with a weak hand, no leverage and the look of a loser. All Peña Nieto needs to say is no.
more...
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/can-trump-be-this-stupid-not-a-trick-question
mainstreetonce
(4,178 posts)a lot of water.
PJMcK
(22,037 posts)From the commentary, here's the final paragraph:
Thanks for posting this, babylonsister.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)Native
(5,942 posts)to have negotiated a great deal or come out on top. He lies about everything, so this shouldn't be any different.
arithia
(455 posts)Watch Trump spin any negative interaction with the Mexican gov't and people into fuel for the racist, hate-filled rhetoric that he spoon feeds to his followers.
lillypaddle
(9,580 posts)he is soundly humiliated.
Moonwalk
(2,322 posts)...the media is in collusion with him to erase it not only from his mind but everyone else's. Unlike with Clinton, where they try to relentlessly remind everyone of her "humiliating" mistakes (even if they're neither mistakes nor humiliating), no one reminds Trump of such errors. Megan Kelly did during the GOP primaries. Then she was apparently told to fall in line, because she turned right around, had him on her show and only threw him soft balls. Thus helping to erase all the humiliation she'd caused him when he couldn't answer her debate questions.
So even if he is humiliated, he can brush it off or turn the blame for it on someone else--and get help with this from the right-wing media.
Which is why he keeps doing these things. "What have you got to lose?" is his mantra. And if he's convinced, as I'm sure he is, that he could shoot someone in the street and nothing would happen then why not try crazy things? Even if it results in humiliation, within 24 hours it will be brushed under the rug and erased.
Lsantos04
(48 posts)Just look at the way he keeps on shooting himself in the foot with his idiotic tweets. He's even dumber than Bush was, which is truly astonishing.
DesertRat
(27,995 posts)asiliveandbreathe
(8,203 posts)President Nieto sign a disclosier - I hope the people of Mexico humiliate this event as much as the trumpster tries to humiliate the people of Mexico...
nolabear
(41,963 posts)This is a strange, strange thing to do, and his hubris at, as my grandmother would say, showing his behind, while the donors pay for it, the Secret Service protects him, people like Giuliani and Arpaio tag along (WHY?) and apparently his campaign has not the vaguest idea what's going on is just disgusting.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)And he can't see beyond this ego bubble he inhabits. In his mind he is a Maximillian about to be crowned the conqueror of Mexico, not the piñata about to get slammed with a baseball bat.
louis-t
(23,295 posts)a la Jan Brewer. I'm sure he'll call their meeting 'productive'.
TomCADem
(17,387 posts)Think of Philippines with Duerte. Rather than hold the line against China with whom Philippines is enmeshed in a territorial dispute, Duerte appeases China, but starts a diplomatic row with Obama who many Philippine Americans strongly support.