From LRB, Jeremy Harding reviews Borderwall as Architecture: A Manifesto for the US-Mexico Boundary by Ronald Rael. The ecological disaster that is Trump’s border wall: A visual guide. Thread: “Trump’s wall is an idea for people who think in cartoons. Here’s a piece of the actual border in Arizona”. These are the people Trump wants to pay for his wall. Immigration policy isn’t just borders and fences — it’s trade and aid, too: Economic events in Mexico have much more to do with who comes across the border than walls or fences. Will Mexico get half of its territory back?
The return of gringophobia: There’s a long tradition of anti-Americanism in Mexican politics — it’s making a comeback in the era of Trump. Mexico’s revenge: By antagonizing the U.S.’s neighbor to the south, Donald Trump has made the classic bully’s error — he has underestimated his victim. Tale of the gringo strongman: Trump’s ill-advised Mexican policies backfire bigly. Feeling insulted, Mexican to market “Trump” toilet paper.
