Former Mexican President Vicente Fox used blunt and profane language to criticize President Donald Trump’s pledge to make Mexico pay for a wall along the southern border of the United States.
Fox obviously is still smarting as the former president let one of his infamous F-bombs slip during an appearance on “New Day.”
CNN’s Alisyn Camerota was questioning Fox about current Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s “diplomatic” stance during a private phone call with Trump that was leaked this past week.
“Do you think that the president of Mexico should have been more forceful in saying it’s never going to happen?” Camerota asked.
“Well, you can use my words: We’ll never pay for that f—ing wall,” Fox said. “Why should Mexico pay for the wall? What’s the reason?”
Camerota abruptly mopped up after that surprise verbal spill: “I apologize to our morning audience for the salty language this morning. Perhaps I should have taken that offer for the five-second delay,” she added with a laugh.
Fox, who was president of Mexico from 2000-06, also slammed Trump for trying to bully Peña Nieto to acquiesce to the building of the southern border wall after Peña Nieto publicly disputed Trump’s claims about Mexico footing the bill.
“The press is going to go with that, and I cannot live with that. You cannot say that to the press because I cannot negotiate under those circumstances,” Trump told Peña Nieto over the phone.
“If you notice in that conversation, what Trump is trying to do is to save face in front of his voters,” Fox said Friday. “He’s not looking after America. It’s just him trying to save face.”
Fox’s “New Day” appearance is not the first time that Fox has used colorful language to describe his opposition to Trump’s border wall.
In a February 2016 interview, Fox told Fusion’s Jorge Ramos: “I’m not going to pay for that f—king wall. He should pay for it.”
Trump quickly fired back on Twitter.
FMR PRES of Mexico, Vicente Fox horribly used the F word when discussing the wall. He must apologize! If I did that there would be a uproar!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2016
Fox also used the expletive in an interview with Fox Business Network, discussing the same topic.
Trump has since walked back his initial pledge, saying the U.S. will pay for the wall’s initial construction with reimbursement from Mexico coming later.
“We have never thought we would be in a situation like this with a leading nation of the world, the greatest nation of the world, the United States,” Fox said Friday.
