The causes are many and surely profound. The fundamental fact is that in his meteoric rise to power Mr. Donald Trump has had in Mexico and the Mexicans, one of his favorite targets to channel the frustration, hatred and ignorance of millions of his followers.
Whether the White House tenant himself is a true racist and isolationist, or a simple opportunist, the fundamental fact is that -as Nazism and Fascism did against the Jews-, he focuses his attacks on minorities for a fundamental reason: because he can.
In today´s U.S. immigrants are one of the most vulnerable segments of society. Particularly if your skin is dark and you take care of the humblest jobs on the social ladder. Although indispensable in various sectors of the economy, such as agriculture and hospitality, immigrants of Latin American origin – all “Mexicans” from Trump’s vision – are one of the social groups with the frailest politicalmusclein the country.
However, the anti-minority rhetoric of the Trump Administration seems to have crossed a line of tolerance among American public opinion. The overwhelming majority rejects Trump’s decision to break the Central American families who are arrested trying to enter the United States. The rhetoric against the “bad men” could well become a kind of reissue of what happened in California in 1994 with the approval of a package of anti-immigrant measures, Initiative 187: it was an effective electoral flag for the next election, but at a huge cost in the next generation.
The economy, but especially the emotional factor will be fundamental in the mood with which voters reach the polls on Tuesday, November 6. After three years of using the attack on Mexico as one of his favorite excuses, President Trump arrives at the intermediate election without a border wall and with Naftastill in operation.
Trump’s rhetoric about the border wall, his bravado that he would immediately expel 11 million undocumented immigrants from the country can define the direction of the vote of millions of citizens; Latinos and not Latinos.
In addition to the resounding failure in most of his campaign promises, and permanent state of chaos generated by the White House, Donald Trump comes to the midterm elections of his four year term with a growing shadow on his head: the possibility of an impeachment against him for some of the numerous irregularities that surround him: from his alliance with the Russian mafia to get to power, to his personal conduct and his constant confrontations with most of the political class in his own country.
In this context, efforts to organize themselves from civil society with economic, cultural or family links with both U.S. and Mexican societies countries should be respected and supported by governments on both sides of the border. People before merchandise; binational families before, cheap politics. Even if Trump´s Republican Party does retain the majority in both chambers of Congress, the White House lack of legitimacy, opens the door to a civil society mobilization in favor of the strong values that made America really great.
