Claudia Scheinbaum–Facts and Prospects

Given that Washington is actively looking for a pretext to invade Mexico, where I have lived for twenty-three years, a few observations from this side of the border may be of worth. To begin, let us ponder Claudia Scheinbaum Pardo, Mexico’s recently elected president, who is subject to venom from the far Right. For example The American Conservative, for which I was a columnist while it still dallied with sanity, has described her as “a dangerous radical on our southern border.”  Sure, and I am a fifty-seven Chevy. The other day I saw a bried video clip of Charlie Kirk, of whom I had never heard until he was shot, saying that Scheinbaum is America’s worst enemy. Whether conservatives are honestly ignorant or deliberately preparing the public to accept attacking Mexico, I don’t know.

So, what manner of wight is she?

She is highly intelligent and trained in the sciences and technology, something almost never found in the upper regions of American government. Scheinbaum, sixty-two, from a family of scientists ( her father a chemist, mother a biologist, brother an oceanographer, husband a physicist)  earned her BS in physics, her MS in physics, and  her doctorate in engineering.  She lived for several years in California, working at the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, ,  speaks educated English  and is familiar with American society and culture. She has served as mayor of Mexico City, a massive jurisdiction and preparation for the presidency. She has written books and many articles for technical publication.

She won the presidency with sixty percent of the vote with her  closest competitor, another woman, receiving twenty-seven percent. So much for machismo. She, like her predecessor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is of the Morena party, and ran on a pledge to continue AMLO’s policies, which she has done. Thus when Mexicans voted for her, they knew what they would get, and did.  Her approval rating has been high, around eighty percent.

She has been accused by internet dispensers of hog droppings as being a communist, sometimes by ones who can spell it. I would call her ccenter-Left.  Her policy goals run to social programs, which Mexico needs, and building rail lines, which Mexico needs. Large among these is the interoceanic line from Salina Cruz across the Tehuantepec Isthmus to Veracruz, which will compete with the Panama Canal and is now in early operation. She continues the upgrading of seaports, which Mexico also needs.

It is difficult to imagine an American President since Jimmy Carter with both the intelligence and  mathematical schooling to factor a binomial square, which is eighth-grade algebra.  Freshman calculus’ Wud dat?, hanh In my decades of slaving in Washington’s press corps, I was astonished by the colossal ignorance of elected officials of almost everything, but particularly of matters technical. In a world in which technologies loom large in geopolitics and prosperity,  a president easily fluent in the sciences might be of value.

By American standards, Scheinbaum’s administration is astonishingly open. Every weekday she hosts a lengthy mañamera, a press conference,  in which she answers, live and online, real questions, lengthy and detailed, from real journalists about real things. Though questions and answers are invariably courteous, the questions are not softballs and by no means always politically friendly.  It is impossible to imagine an American President doing such a thing, without an unmannerly Tinker Belle Levitt  to give boilerplate answers to vetted questions.  If you speak Spanish,give her a listen

Online one encounters many bloggers trendily hostile to Mexico , including some who know where it is, and to Scheinbaum who is described not just as a dangerous radical on our southern border, but also as “Mexico’s narcopresidente.  This is nuts. Perhaps they are confusing her with Griselda Blanco. Darwin seems in brisk retreat, at least far out on the right wind where feathers run out and giddy space begins. A problem in modern politics is that  anyone with an internet connection and a thirty-dollar camera can become an authority on anything.  agitated bloggers, sometimes actual dimwits, say, not quite screeching, “We here at the Daily Disturbance have learned from undeniable sources that the Mexican government is sending tons of fentanyl  to poison your children and DESTROY AMERICA!!!!  To what extent political parties and governmental agencies produce these blogs, I don’t know, but i can guess

Here a dive into reality. Mexicans want to get rid of the cartels a lot more than Americans do. Americans are relentlessly told by the country’s propaganda outlets–CNN, MSNBC, Fox–that Washington yearns to impose democracy, overthrow dictators, and fight the drug cartels. This is nonsense, and probably believed nowhere outside of the United States and its vassals. Note that when hundreds of thousands of Americans were dying of of overdoses of Oxycontin  produced in America, Washington did nothing. Washington actually colludes with the cartels by selling, or allowing the sale of, military weaponry to the said cartels with the effect that the Mexican police are outgunned. Every sentient being in the Potomac Byzantium knows this. It continues.

By contrast, Latin Americans know that Washington lacks the slightest interest in democracy or moral values. It wants natural resources and control, and nothing else. In particular, it wants Venezuela’s oil and Mexico’s lithium. It also wants to prevent Mexico from trading with China or letting the Chinese build factories.  putting American soldiers into Mexico is thus very much a goal. As many countries have learned to their sorrow, getting American troops in is much easier than getting them out.

Here is Scheinbaum’s greatest problem. She has repeatedly said that she will cooperate to any extent in opposing the cartels. To this end she has sent thousands of troops to the border and has extradited dozens of members of cartels to the US for trial. She has also said that Mexico will not accept subordination or American troops on Mexican land. But she has no leverage. Trump can destroy Mexico’s economy with a signature. He doesn’t like Mexico or Mexicans. His base is enthusiastic at the idea of invasion or bombing though most seem to be blankly ignorant of Latin America. This political potpouri she has to handle.

Complicating things is that Few in America know anything at all about Mexico. It would be interesting to take a poll of Trump’s base and ask: Can you name three Mexican states? One state? What does Morena mean?  What did Lazaro Cardenas do in 1938 of importance to America? Can you read Spanish? Can you read English? What is an amparo? Anyone who cannot answer this last can have no understanding of Mexican politics, which as in perhaps any country are complex and sometimes confusing.

Onward into the fog.