The fallout from November 5th few are talking about.

Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris Tuesday night with an electoral landslide, the popular vote, and a clear mandate from the American people.  Meanwhile, the nonpartisan and completely objective Associated Press, where many news outlets get their information, summed up Trump’s victory thusly.  “The victory validates his bare-knuckle approach to politics. He attacked his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, in deeply personal — often misogynistic and racist — terms as he pushed an apocalyptic picture of a country overrun by violent migrants.”

Give me a break! Trump’s “bare-knuckle” approach?  Unless I’m mistaken, wasn’t it Trump the Left tried to bankrupt, tie up in court, and throw in jail?  And wasn’t it Trump who was the victim of multiple indictments, three trials, a half a billion dollars in fines, and 34 felony convictions (soon to be either dismissed or overturned by higher courts.)  And wasn’t it Trump who the Left tried to get thrown off the ballot in multiple states, and who survived two assassination attempts?  And lest we forget, wasn’t it Trump whose first term began with the Russia collusion hoax and two phony impeachments?

Had I known the forces that would be arrayed against him, never in a million years would I have thought anyone, not even Abraham Lincoln who was absolutely reviled in his day, could survive the lies, misinformation, the lawfare and the American media – but Trump did.  Bottom line – Donald Trump is one tough S.O.B.  And guess what, it’s not just Americans who have taken note of this man’s backbone and mettle, so have Xi Jinping, Vladamir Putin, Kim Jong Un and the Mullahs in Iran, which has forced a new geopolitical calculus.

~ Trump’s win is sending shock waves through Mexico ~

But this new calculus isn’t limited to the usual suspects.  The Mexican government also has a bit of “splainin’ to do” for its part in the nightmare at our southern border.  The tariffs Trump has promised could devastate the Mexican economy, as could the mass deportations Trump has vowed, after all, Mexican immigrants in the U.S. send $60 billion back to Mexico each year

And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why Mexico’s far left president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who has been in office less than two months, refrained from congratulating Trump on Wednesday stating, “It would be prudent to wait for official results,” adding, “We are a free, independent, sovereign country, and I am confident there will be good relations with the United States.”  This is a woman who is not at all happy with the outcome of last Tuesday’s election.   And to make things even more interesting, Trump’s term will run concurrent with hers for the next four years.  It’s believed here that President Sheinbaum chose not to congratulate Trump because she needed to time to consult with her cabinet, but more importantly, because she didn’t know how to respond and was buying time – sometimes inaction speaks volumes.

Mexico is the U.S.’s top trading partner and the relationship while not symbiotic, is deeply interdependent.  And Sheinbaum has every right to be concerned about Trump’s first moves after January 20^th.   Will he tie tariffs to immigration and how will the mass deportations that could affect millions be handled?  As an aside, last Monday Trump stated that President Sheinbaum would be his first call.  Oh, to have been a-fly-on-the-wall when Trump finally spoke with our southern neighbor’s president.

In 2019, during Trump 1.0 he threatened a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports that would increase monthly up to 25 %, unless Mexico acted to curb illegal immigration.  To avoid these tariffs, then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador agreed to deploy the Mexican National Guard to the southern border and expand the Migrant Protection Protocols.

Trump made no bones about the deal saying he secured “28,000 soldiers free of charge, no cost, and we had the greatest border in history.”  He also highlighted his “great relationship” with then President, López Obrador.  But now, with Trump set to enter the Oval Office in January, Mexico will need to navigate its relationship with the U.S. in the second Trump administration carefully vis-à-vis his past comments about mass deportation, tariffs and the possibility of labeling the Mexican drug cartels terrorist organizations.

Frankly it wouldn’t bother me a bit to see Blackhawk helicopters carrying Navy SEALS across the Rio Grande to eliminate these drug cartels similar to what we did in Pakistan when we took out Osama bin Laden.  So, it will be interesting to see how President Sheinbaum and the Mexican cabinet maneuver in light of Trump’s comments come January 20^th

An economy that’s driven by trade with more than 80% of its exports sent north of the border can ill decide not to be a part of the solution at the southern border – it’s going to be interesting four years with our southern neighbor.