This morning Señor Trumpanzee had a fundraiser in California and has a much-touted anti-immigrant speech scheduled for Phoenix tonight. In between he decided to go on a last minute jaunt to Mexico City on TrumpForce One. Mexico's embattled and extremely unpopular president (23% approval rating), Enrique Peña Nieto, invited El Trumpanzee down for his own domestic reasons, probably to use him as a piñata. Only 4% of Mexicans see Señor Trumpanzee in a positive light. The video above, from 1958, will give you an idea of what I think Bannon had in mind when he proposed the Trump trip.Trump tweet: "I want nothing to do with Mexico other than to build an impenetrable WALL and stop them from ripping off U.S."I was only 10 when Vice President Nixon, encouraged by imperialist Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, went on his "good will tour of Latin America," where he was boo-ed and reviled everywhere. Lt. Colonel Manuel Chavez, a retired Air Force Command Pilot and intelligence officer who was assigned to the US Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela as a military attaché, when Nixon made his trip wrote about it last year for the History News Network. He referred to the trip to Venezuela as "Nixon's Folly" and claimed it shouldn't have been included by Dulles. "The country," he wrote, "was still in political turmoil following the ousting of a military dictator, General Perez Jimenez, who had been very supportive of the US and big business, particularly oil companies. Demonstrations and disorders were frequent because the secret police had been disbanded and police left their posts for fear of being killed. There was no law and order and curfews were frequent. The protestors encouraged by leftist reformers, university students and perhaps some communist sympathizers, were protesting US policies favoring military ruled governments such as Perez Jimenez and now a military junta. Following a long meeting with the Embassy staff all agreed that it would be risky and perhaps dangerous for the Vice President of the United States to visit Venezuela at this time. Ambassador Sharp sent a message to Washington recommending that the Vice Present not come to Venezuela. Nixon came anyway. Why? Dulles' mindset was not significantly less warped than Bannon's is today!Chavez attributes Nixon's trip, at least in part to "being out of touch and lacking realism." Nixon and his team claimed they hoped he would be received "with flags and good cheers" and "they also specifically requested that he ride in an open (convertible) limousine." The embassy suggested he not come at all and emphasized the danger of him being assassinated. But Nixon seemed to be craving and even encouraging exactly what was about to happen.
Trump no es bienvenidoAs soon as the Nixons were on the stairs the anti-Nixon placards were unfurled by the crowd on the balcony. “Yankee go home, you are not welcomed, American Dogs, Imperialists” were yelled in English and Spanish. After a fast review of a small honor guard and greeting Venezuelan and embassy officials airport military guards cleared a path through a large group of protesters that were in the terminal. Another unruly crowd was at the entrance but Nixon finally went directly to the open doors of the Cadillac limo instead of the convertible. This may have saved their lives. Nixon only had 12 US Secret Service agents accompanying him and they were no match against the pushing and shoving mob.The five car caravan, led by a flatbed truck full of reporters and photographers, sped up the 13 mile Autopista (expressway) to Caracas. The expressway rises from sea level to three thousand feet and through two tunnels, one of which is a mile long. Just past the toll plaza exit, a very large and unruly mob had descended from the slums of the nearby hills and blocked the road to stop the cars. One of these slums is known as Sierra Maestre, named for Castro’s guerrilla camp. It was also a no-man’s land because police feared going there. The crowd, in a violent frenzy, began rocking the Nixon’s limo, throwing rocks at the windows and then using a battering ram to break the thick glass. Flying glass wounded the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, who sat next to VP Nixon, but the Nixons were not hurt. Colonel Walters who was in the front seat received facial cuts from the shattered glass.After approximately 15 minutes of being blocked the flatbed truck inched its way through the mob to the opposite lane and the limo followed bumper to bumper until it was clear. They then rapidly sped another five miles on Urdaneta Avenue to the side street leading to the Bolivar Panteon. However, all was not well. The street was completely blocked by a mob of people so the limo driver drove past it with instructions to precede directly the US Ambassor’s residence on the north edge of Caracas instead of the Circulo Militar.Finally Ambassador Sharp requested assistance from the Military Command and within an hour they had secured the Embassy Residence perimeter surrounded by tanks, armored cars and squads of military personnel. Road blocks were established to control access to the residence area. The US Marine guards were assigned to patrol the residence yard and Ambassador Sharp requested that some the US Military Attachés be present inside the residence at all times.When the shocking news from Caracas reached President Eisenhower he took immediate action by ordering a US Naval Squadron to go to a position offshore of the La Guardia Port which was adjacent to the Miaquetia airport. Helicopters would evacuate the Nixon’s to a waiting ship in case it was needed.
Remember when he said, "Mexico is not our friend, believe me"When Eisenhower called Nixon to see how he was, Nixon "asked if he could arrange for a large crowd to welcome their return... When the Nixons finally arrived back in Washington they were received by a friendly and cheerful crowd of 15,000 well wishers. It is easy to arrange a friendly welcome when the President of the United States orders it, especially in Washington, with thousands of government employees volunteering to take the afternoon off."Chavez is still wondering, almost 6 decades later, why Nixon took the risks-- including his own and his wife's lives-- to make a trip he subsequnetly wrote he didn't really want to go on. "Was it," Chavez asked, "to enhance his political image as a hero for political reasons?" On MSNBC today Republican strategist Rick Wilson predicted that Señor Trumpanzee's Mexico trip will be "a dumpster fire on top of a mountain of burning tires." By early this morning, Mexican politicians were denouncing Trump's trip vociferously. And they were hardly alone. The Mexico City legislature declared Trumpanzee a persona non-grata. The Secret Service avoided violent demonstrations in Mexico City by helicoptering Trumpanzee to and from the presidential palace so he wouldn't have to interact with any of the people he claims he loves so, so much.
