God Save America from Donny T .... Trump gets Sucker by American President Peña Nieto. Peeeeease don't straight jacket him until November 9th. Let the disconnect between Trump's brain and mouth and political reality continue.

What is Mexico's president thinking? ..... an opportunity for Peña Nieto to call a Stone a Stone ( pun) and remind Donald Trump that Mexico will never pay for his $60  billion wall.

Peña Nieto is taking 'an enormous political risk' meeting with Trump, Mexico's former president says.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s standing in the polls has sunk to record lows, and a new plagiarism scandal isn’t helping. So maybe meeting with a guy even less popular than he is could bring the Mexican public back to his side?

That’s one theory being considered Wednesday as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — a man who once called America’s third-largest trading partner a “racist enemy” — prepares to visit Mexico City later in the day. Trump's approval rating in Mexico, according to a June poll, was 2 percent. Peña Nieto is hovering around 23 percent, other surveys show.

Still, the fact that the Mexican president invited Trump (as well as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton) with less than three months to go in the U.S. presidential race has befuddled many observers of Latin America.

"Why Peña Nieto wants this meeting is a total mystery. No matter how it is spun, it raises candidate Donald Trump’s profile and legitimacy," said Peter Schechter, director of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council. "He’s the president of a country. If he wants to stand up to Donald Trump, he doesn’t need him there. Grab a mic and stand up to him."

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox told CNN’s “New Day” early Wednesday that Peña Nieto "is taking an enormous political risk" by hosting Trump. If Peña Nieto is seen as "going soft" on the businessman, Fox warned, "it will hurt him greatly."

Fox had even harsher words during a radio interview. “Incredible that a president of Mexico would meet with a nobody punk like this,” he said. “A president shouldn’t lower himself to that level. The only thing he’s doing is giving a spotlight to a candidate whose numbers show that he’s losing.”

It's possible Peña Nieto issued the invitations thinking neither candidate would ever show up. But it’s also possible that Peña Nieto could use the opportunity to upbraid Trump and defend his country, something many Mexicans may appreciate after being treated like a punching bag for months on the Republican campaign trail. The pair are due to host a news conference after their meeting Wednesday, giving both a stage to air grievances.

The problem for Peña Nieto, some say, is that he has to act presidential and diplomatic, especially considering how sensitive countries generally are about outsiders getting involved in their internal politics. Whereas Trump, despite his attempts to boost his appeal among a broader segment of the U.S. voting population, remains unpredictable. ,,,,, and the Mexican Press and  man in the street in Mexico City rages defiantly against the visit.

The real estate mogul is due to make a major speech about immigration policy in Arizona after his stop in Mexico, and he could cast his meeting with Peña Nieto in any number of ways. "God only knows what Trump is going to say in Arizona — he could boast and tell people about how he told off the Mexican president," Schechter said.

“Nobody can control what he’s going to say the next morning or what he’s going to tweet or how he’s going to tweet. That is his personality,” added a Latin American official familiar with the U.S.-Mexico relationship.

Christopher Wilson, an expert on Mexico at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said Peña Nieto has to be careful. "On the one hand, the United States, which is the top buyer of Mexico’s exports, is of vital importance to Mexico, and the Mexican president needs to ensure that he has clear channels of communication open with whomever the next U.S. president may be," Wilson said. "On the other hand, Donald Trump is generally viewed quite negatively by the public in Mexico, so if President Peña is seen as too friendly in his meeting with Mr. Trump, he could easily become subject to domestic criticism."

Peña Nieto, a boyishly handsome 50-year-old, began his six-year term in 2012 after campaigning heavily on improving the economy in a country that is making dramatic strides on business, trade and other fronts, but still grappling with security issues.

Peña Nieto has struggled in recent years, especially in the wake of a corruption scandal involving his wife's purchase of a $7 million mansion through a favored government contractor and reports of the disappearance and presumed murders of 43 students, allegedly by drug gangs, as well as the prison escapes of the drug cartel leader known as El Chapo. The Mexican economy also has struggled, recently shrinking for the first time in three years.

An investigation by a Mexican news outlet earlier this summer alleged that Peña Nieto had plagiarized significant portions of his law thesis. The president’s office has downplayed the findings, but it has further weakened his standing in the eyes of the Mexican public. People in Mexico already are discussing the next presidential election, set for 2018, and analysts say an unusually large number of candidates may run.

Trump has repeatedly vilified Mexico throughout his extraordinary run for the presidency, which has revolved heavily around demonizing undocumented immigrants. He’s blasted the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying Mexico fleeced the U.S. in the 1990s deal, and he has promised to build a “beautiful” wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and to have Mexico pay for it.

Mexican leaders have balked at the idea of paying for the wall, while also pointing out that recent studies show the number of illegal immigrants in the United States — huge portions of whom are not Mexican or even from Latin America — are at a low. Supporters of the U.S.-Mexico relationship also say that a strong Mexican economy benefits the United States; at least 6 million jobs in the U.S. are dependent on ties between the countries, experts say.

After several months of keeping his cool, Peña Nieto lashed out at Trump in March, likening the Republican’s tone to Adolf Hitler’s. The Mexican president also instructed his diplomats in the United States to step up their outreach to the American people to correct misconceptions about America’s southern neighbor.

However, in recent months, Peña Nieto has been much more careful in his comments on Trump, disappointing some but leading others to suspect the Mexican leader is more focused on his own political problems. Peña Nieto has indicated in recent months that he doesn't want to get involved in another country's elections, but with his invitations to Clinton and Trump, he seems to have changed his mind.

"Now he’s not only getting involved in U.S. politics, he’s getting massively involved," Schechter said. "He was doing fine just being quiet."r:
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