Donald Trump returns to campaign trail and discredited promise to make Mexico pay for border wall
Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail on Tuesday night with a familiar refrain, criticising Mexico for failing to stop the flow of illegal immigrants to the US and promising to make Mexico pay for his proposed border wall.
And the result was the same: Enthusiastic cheers from supporters in Nashville, Tennessee, followed by a swift promise from the Mexican president that no such thing would ever happen.
Mr Trump took his message out on the road as part of efforts to shore up Republican votes during what could be tricky mid-term elections in November.
Democrats hope an unpopular president could help them wrest back control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
But Mr Trump returned to the talking points that gave him a shock win in 2016.
"I don’t want to cause a problem, but in the end, Mexico’s gonna pay for the wall ," he said to roars of approval. "They do absolutely nothing to stop people from going through Mexico, from Honduras and all these other countries… They do nothing to help us.”
Mexico has repeatedly said it has no obligation to help the US build a wall, and Mr Trump has in the past backed away from the pledge only to return to it.
Again on Tuesday Enrique Pena Nieto, the Mexican President, insisted that his country would never pay for its construction.
President @realDonaldTrump: NO. Mexico will NEVER pay for a wall. Not now, not ever.
Sincerely, Mexico (all of us).
— Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) May 30, 2018
Otherwise, Mr Trump used the rally to fire up his base by celebrating his achievements in office, from a slew of positive economic indicators to making good on his promise to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Click Here: camiseta boca juniors
He appealed for Republican unity and said the elections need not mean the party that holds the White House loses congressional seats.
“In November, we will reverse a trend," he said.
At a glance | Donald Trump’s border wall
He also talked up Marsha Blackburn, who is running for a Senate seat in the state.
“We need Marsha in the Senate to continue the amazing progress and work that we’ve done over the last year and a half,” he said. “To keep on winning, you have to vote Republican in November.”