The shoe is now on the other foot
As reprehensible as you and I probably find Donald Trump, one major draw he has to people that don’t follow politics is his tendency to get tough with foreign leaders – even, or especially, when he’s in the wrong. This also isn’t necessarily a strength of his on its own – a lot of Republican presidents have behaved in a similar way and gotten props for it from the general public – people who find the whole “stick to your guns” mentality appealing.
The problem, however, is that despite recently winning an election, Donald Trump isn’t really anywhere to be found – he’s just rolling out statements amping up tariffs on our closest trade partners while his babysitters are working his social media.
Despite Trump’s controversial comments about Mexico and Mexican immigrants crossing the border, the shoe is now on the other foot, as Mexico’s new president Claudia Sheinbaum had some harsh words for Trump on Tuesday – not only threatening new tariffs in retaliation to any the US might impose, but attributing problems with illegal drugs and weapons to the U.S. – ones that are smuggled into Mexico from the states – suggesting that this time around Donald Trump will have a much more difficult time negotiating with bordering countries than he did the first time around – and he’ll be coming to the table with a lot less leverage than he had before. It’s only a matter of time before he looks embarrassingly weak on the world stage despite all of his usual yelling and threats.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making