Americans of Mexican Descent - Enough is Enough

The Paul Truesdell Podcast

0:00
The situation in Mexico has been evolving in ways that most Americans probably do not have the bandwidth to keep up with. Okay, you know, we're all busy. We've got hurricane Milton that just went through. It's Thursday, October 10, and we're all busy. We have our own problems. You got people with student loans, health care costs, and you know, we got to keep up with Kardashians, even though we really don't want to. And it's well, it's worth taking a moment to look south of the border, where things are getting a little bit spicy. That's right. And we're not talking about like the good taco truck spicy kind of thing. Okay. Now this is the kind of spice that leaves a really bad aftertaste when one lingers long after a meal has over. It just kind of hangs around. Welcome to the Paul Truesdale podcast, rather than two Pauls in a pod, this episode features Paul the elder, and thus just one Paul in a pod. So what's the gig? Individually or collectively, Paul and Paul sit down and chat predominantly at the Truesdell professional building and record frequently. They explain a few things about how life works. Before time gets away, they connect the dots and plot the knots, spots and ops with a heavy dose of knocks, mocks, pots, rocks, socks and mops, confused, then welcome aboard. You see Paul the elder and Paul the younger enjoy telling complex stories that are always based on business, economics and forecasting, while having fun laughing and being among like minded men, women and children from Earth, Pluto, Jupiter and Neptune, individually and jointly, Paul the elder and Paul the younger, coupled with Team Truesdell, have been there and done it. If you enjoy front porch philosophers who take deep dives and connect the dots while drinking coffee during the day and a whiskey after five, welcome. It is a true pleasure to have you on board. This is the Paul Trousdale podcast.

2:08
Well, we've got a lady by name of Claudia. That's right, Claudia scheinbaum, and she's the newly elected president of Mexico. And, yeah, this is going to be really easy, because she is at the heart of it all. She is really the person that we need to start thinking about, talking about and really understanding. Okay, that is an important thing to always remember and never forget. Okay.

2:38
So what we talking about here, she officially took office on october 1, and while she may not be a household name, yet, her background does make her, Well, an interesting person. She's interesting because she kind of has a standout background. So she was born on June 24 1962

3:01
She's now in her 60s, and she brings a resume that's a little bit more impressive than most of the politicians that we're used to seeing. Look, let's be really blunt about it.

3:11
She isn't a former drama teacher, as in Justin Trudeau. She's not a TV reality star turned political marketer. That's Donald Trump. No, she's not, you know, a senator like Biden and Harris or Obama. No, she actually ran a government now. Now listen, sheinbaum is a scientist by training. She has a PhD in energy engineering, that's right. She spent several years running one of the most chaotic urban jungles in the world, place called Mexico City. I've been there more than a few times, going back into the 1960s I can tell you, it's a different place than it was back then, although many of the buildings are well, still the same, and that's no small feat. I mean, given the city has over 21 million residents, each with their own set of demands and complaints, so unlike some of the more, shall we say, performative leaders we've seen North America recently, okay? She Yeah, actually had to make the trains run on time. That's a phrase that goes back to Mussolini and Italy. By the way, she had to fix real problems, housing, crime, infrastructure, all while balancing a deeply fractured political landscape. You could almost say she was the adult in the room, except, well, we'll have to get to that. Oh. Now, despite her impressive qualification, the shine bum comes with some significant baggage. Okay, some real baggage. You see, her mentor is none other than Andreas Manuel Lopez Obrador, and they call him AMLO for short. You know you got we have AOC.

5:00
Well, that's AMLO for short. But we'll get to his full set of issues in just a moment. You see AMLO, now in his early 70s, left office with a surprisingly high approval rating.

5:15
He's considered a flaming mess

5:18
because of what he left behind. Now AMLO, I'm going to use that, okay? He was born November 13, 1953 he rose to power on a populist platform promising to fight corruption and give a voice to Mexico's disenfranchised. Yeah, when you hear what I have to say about this guy, you're going to go, Hmm, that's interesting. And to his credit, he did that well, sort of. He managed to dismantle key democratic institutions. There you go. He weakened the judiciary, there you go. And he turned a complete blind eye to drug cartels taking over large swaths of the country. Hey, buddy, that's all right. Shine, shine, shine. But hey, at least a poor got something financial right? They got some financial aid. So it's like setting your house on fire, but handing out marshmallows as you watch it burn. That is the truth. Okay? No, ifs no ands No, buts about it. So AMLO, one of his parting gifts to Mexico was his assault on the Judiciary. You see, in the last few months of his presidency, he basically rewrote the rule book, making it easier for his political party to control judicial appointments. Now picture this. I want you to get this in your mind. Imagine in the United States right? You have a president.

6:43
We can call him

6:46
zippity Duda. So Zippy Duda, he decides to bypass the Senate, and instead he's going to appoint judges based upon the approval of his party's caucuses. So political hacks that I have been around far too much lately, they'd all decide who's going to be the judge. The result is a judiciary that no longer serves as an independent check on power. Because, remember, you know, you can't have independent checks on power. You can have, you know, boards of directors or power the people to question things. No, it becomes a rubber stamp for the ruling party's agenda. That's right. That's the current state of affairs in Mexico. And when you have that in the public arena with publicly traded companies, fortunately here, the Securities and change commission will oftentimes step in and put a stomp to people like that. And this is where, well, shinebaum now has to decide what she's going to do. She can be part of the problem or part of the solution. Believe me, don't hold your breath.

7:50
Mr. Madison, what you just said

7:54
is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response, were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought? Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

8:19
Okay, a simple wrong. Would have done just fine. But if you think that's bad, you think that's bad, here's what we got. You know, forget the forget the judiciary. He blows that up. But then there's the military situation. Oh, boy. Where do we begin on this? Amlos government recently pushed through a reform that folded. I'll check this out. This, this is going to be kind of weird. Get a handle on here in the US, he folded the National Guard, which is Mexico's paramilitary force, into the military. Now I can see a lot of you are going, Yeah, that's what you need to do with National Guard states rights. You don't want that. We need to consolidate everything here in the United States into a federal and a federal forces. I got that now, you might be th...