Transcript: Trump-MAGA Rage at Mexico Takes a Dark, Menacing Turn

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The following is a lightly edited transcript of the November 29 episode of theDaily Blast podcast. Listen to it here .

Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.

Now that Donald Trump has threatened 25 percent tariffs on all goods the United States imports from Mexico, Trump’s MAGA allies have gotten the memo: The new enemy is Mexico. One top MAGA ally is claiming that Mexico should prepare for a U.S. military invasion. Another says that if Mexico doesn’t do Trump’s bidding, “pain and suffering will ensue.”

All this comes after Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, hit back at Trump’s threat in a sharply worded statement . Trump’s propagandists are already laying the groundwork to cast Mexico as a major scapegoat for U.S. social problems, thus justifying in advance whatever Trump throws at Mexico in the way of threats and bullying and tariffs and whatever else. Today, we’re going to try to figure out what this all means and how bad it could get with one of the best observers of immigration and border issues out there, Douglas Rivlin of America’s Voice. Thanks for coming back on, Doug.

Douglas Rivlin: Thanks, Greg.

Sargent: The latest is that Trump threatened tariffs to get Mexico to stop migrants and fentanyl from coming. Claudia Sheinbaum responded by saying that Mexican security forces are already doing a great deal to stop migrants, and that this is a big reason border apprehensions are down sharply here this year. Doug, these are migrants coming from south of Mexico who are trying to cross Mexico to get to the U.S. border, and Mexico is stopping them. Can you talk about this situation? What’s really going on with it?

Rivlin: The story of this year on the border is that the traffic is down by 75 percent. Mexico is doing things like busing potential migrants from the north to the south, giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum in Mexico and filling up detention centers that they’re newly building.

I was down visiting shelters a couple of years ago. The shelters really would help migrants apply for asylum in Mexico, would help them navigate how you would come legally to the U.S. using … Read More