Donald Trump’s base swooned when he roared on the campaign trail that he would build a wall on the Mexican border, and that Mexico would pay for it.
But within a week of taking office, Trump took a meeker tone with Mexico’s leader: You don’t have to pay for the wall, but could you stop saying it so loudly in the press?
On his first White House call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Trump alternated between assuring his counterpart that he knew the wall would have to be funded through other channels and entreating Nieto to stop saying publicly that his government would never pay for a wall. The transcript of the January 27 call was first published Thursday by the Washington Post.
“The fact is we are both in a little bit of a political bind because I have to make Mexico pay for the wall—I have to,” Trump said. “I have been talking about it for a two-year period, and the reason I say they are going to pay for the wall is because Mexico has made a fortune out of the stupidity of U.S. trade representatives.”
Trump reassured Nieto that he was happy to have “continued dialogue” and that “it will come out in the wash and that is okay.”
But the president took a hard line on the optics: “We cannot say that anymore because 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.”
Why the convoluted stance? Why was Trump willing to privately tell Nieto he wouldn’t pay for the wall while threatening him not to say so publicly?
Trump answered that question himself: “Believe it or not, this is the least important thing that we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important thing we talk about.”
Nieto stood firm: “My position has been and will continue to be very firm saying that Mexico cannot pay for that wall.”
“But you cannot say that to the press,” Trump replied.
