President-elect Donald Trump is on record as suggesting that both Mexico and Canada should become additional states in the union. In his mind that would eliminate what he says is an annual 300 billion American subsidy to Mexico and a 100 billion to Canada.
While to most, that sounds like an outlandish suggestion, it nevertheless is typical of the exaggerated nature of things in 2024. It is one notion to talk about adding Puerto Rico or Washington DC to the union, it is another to mention Mexico as our 51st State.
The narrative describing 2024 is first highlighted by court indictments and criminal convictions of the Republican frontrunner for the presidency of the United States. Pared with this are the hundreds of millions of dollars raised to run for office but used to defend the candidate in court.
Meanwhile, the sitting President that appears more feeble and aged reached his own political crossroad that change the course of his candidacy for reelection and that of the country. At the first debate on June 27, 2024 between former President Trump and President Biden the latter lost his presentation and appeared so weak that immediate calls for replacing him as the Democratic Party standard bearer were heard and heeded.
As a result, Vice President Kamala Harris who was running for reelection with President Biden was ushered in to replace her boss on July 21st. For the next 107 days Harris offered a vigorous campaign that ultimately fell short.
Each campaign pushed two major issues. For Trump it was the border and the economy and for Harris it was abortion and democracy.
The question of democracy had been a critical issue in the 2020 election and appeared to be of on-going concern in 2024. However, the dramatic images, media coverage and political drama surrounding immigration seem to win the day.
Mexico also had a presidential election. For the first time in the post-Colombian history of the country a woman was elected President.
President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo was elected leader of the country on June 2, 2024. She, along with the previous President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, were the principle founders of the MORENA movement that became a political party that has held the majority since 2018.
The aim of not only reconstructing the government around a priority that emphasizes the elevation of social and economic life of the common people beginning with the poor but also bringing to the forefront Mexico’s pre-Colombian past as the basis for its identity is a dramatic departure from the cultural values of the past.
President Sheinbaum was asked about President-elect Trump’s comments about his desire to dominate Mexico and even make it part of the United States. She pointed out that Mexico is the U.S. number 1 trading partner, that the last United States – Mexico – Canada trade agreement was negotiated with the Trump administration and that she would continue to work to that end with the American President.
I wonder what would happen if Mexico did become part of the United States. The 131 million Mexicans added to the 62 million Latinos in this country would certainly accelerate the coming Latino political majority in America.
2024 is also a pivotal year in that the Boomer Generation represented by Presidents Biden and Trump are in their last years of power. There have been so many twists and turns that the Boomers have experienced as a protagonist.
This is their lasting legacy. It was a Generation that did so much and once was great.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of LaVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
