Mexico’s President ramped up his verbal attacks on Donald Trump this week by comparing the Republican front runner's tactics to those used by Hitler and Mussolini.
In interviews with the Mexican press, President Enrique Peña Nieto blasted Trump's anti-immigrant statements and said the candidate's xenophobia and “strident rhetoric” seems to emulate the campaign tactics used by Hitler and Mussolini during the first half of the 20th century.
Peña Nieto had initially refrained from responding to Trump's earlier comments when he called Mexicans criminals and rapists. The Mexican president said he avoided jumping into the fray because he didn't want to bolster Trump’s profile.
But as Trump continues to win primaries and climb in the polls leading up to the Republican Convention, concern about his views on immigration and border security has turned to alarm in Mexico. Now the Mexican government is pushing back with a series of its own counterattacks.
He also echoed former Mexican presidents Calderon and Fox (minus the expletives) by insisting that his country would not be paying for a border wall.
Still, the Mexican president said his government will respect the U.S. electoral process and try to “build a better relationship” with whoever is elected president.