Gringo feo

Vicente Fox: Trump turning U.S. back to days of 'gringo feo'

By Nick Gass

Donald Trump's rhetoric and campaign is nothing new in the Americas, former Mexican President Vicente Fox suggested Wednesday, ripping into the Republican nominee anew while drawing explicit comparisons between him and past Latin American demagogues.

Fox has repeatedly criticized Trump throughout the election cycle, particularly over his insistence that Mexico would pay for the cost of a wall along the country's border with the United States. Asked on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" whether Trump's candidacy reminded him of "any past demagogic candidates in Latin America," Fox did not miss a beat.

"Absolutely, yes. And we suffered from that all along the 20th century," Fox said, mentioning the likes of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, as well as the Perons and the Kirchners of Argentina. "And I'm surprised this nation is going back to the old days of the gringo feo, of the ugly American but also going back to populism."

Declaring the U.S. "great already" because of "the work of these millions and millions of workers," Fox acknowledged the loss of manufacturing jobs in the country over the last decade but added that Trump was not telling the whole truth about the growth "from the new economy, in the new jobs, the quality jobs which is what U.S. Americans have here, so it's wrong on every position."

"It is wrong on going to a trade war with China, with Mexico. He doesn't understand that U.S. economy has a deficit with every single economy in the world and he's not going to go to war with everybody. We are frightened outside. I work with 95 former heads of states" with the Club de Madrid, Fox continued. "We are now in one solid front against this man. This is not the voice of United States. This is not the voice of a compassionate leadership. This is not the voice of a brilliant leader which would be world leader, not only president of the United States."