Hillary Clinton has grown increasingly comfortable with mocking Donald Trump from the campaign trail, and the Democratic nominee inspired cheers from a crowd Friday afternoon by accusing the Republican candidate of flopping during his recent trip to Mexico City.
“My opponent’s only infrastructure plan is to build a wall,” Clinton told a crowd of supporters in Coral Spring, Fla.
“I loved it. He went down to Mexico and he choked. He didn’t even raise it. He has been going around telling people for months, ‘We’re going to build a wall, and we’re going to make Mexico pay for it.’ So he’s sitting with the president of Mexico and he doesn’t even bring it up!” she said to applause and laughter.
Trump accepted an invitation last month for an in-person meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City. The GOP nominee and Pena started their meeting with a private discussion that was closed off to the travelling American press. Later, the two participated in a joint press conference in which they laid out their respective positions on trade and immigration.
After delivering their prepared remarks, the Republican candidate and Mexican president took questions from the press. In response to one specific question, Trump said he and Pena did not discuss the GOP nominee’s oft-repeated promise to build a wall on America’s southern border and make Mexico pay for it.
Pena’s team released a statement later alleging the Mexican president had stated unequivocally in his private meeting with Trump that Mexico would never pay for the border wall.
The Trump campaign didn’t dispute the claim, and explained in a statement of its own that a “negotiation” would have been “inappropriate.”
“[W]e look forward to continuing the conversation,” the Trump campaign said.
On Friday, Clinton drew laughter by accusing Trump of choking during his meeting with Pena.
“He finds it a lot easier to insult women than to talk to the president of Mexico about building a wall!” the Democratic nominee said.
Clinton also made fun of Trump Friday for his early-morning comments on social media about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.
“I mean, really. Who gets up at 3 o’clock in the morning to engage in a Twitter attack against a former Miss Universe?” Clinton said. “I mean, he hurled as many insults as he could. Really, why does he do things like that?
“I mean, his latest Twitter meltdown is unhinged, even for him. It proves yet again that he is temperamentally unfit to be president and commander in chief,” she added. “I have said it before and I’ll say it again: A man who can be provoked by a tweet should not be anywhere near the nuclear codes.”
