Televisa reported that Calderon, president from 2006 to 2012, made the comments during a February 27 speech to top members of the Mexico’s National Action Party in Mexico City.
“He’s speaking out against immigrants who have a different skin color than he does,” Calderon said. “It’s frankly racist and he’s exploiting the same sensitive nerves that Hitler did in his time.”
Calderon, a conservative and graduate of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, condemned Trump’s proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Immigration from Mexico to the United States has dropped drastically during the past five years, according to Calderon, which would make the wall a mere “symbol.” He rejected Trump’s demand that Mexico pay for its construction.
“Mexicans are not going to pay one cent for that stupid wall,” he said.
Calderon is not the only former Mexican leader to compare Trump to Hitler. Fox News reported that former-President Vicente Fox, who preceded Calderon and has no relationship to the news network, made similar comments during a telephone interview
“He’s going to take the US back to the old days of conflict, war and everything. I mean, he reminds me of Hitler. That’s the way he started speaking,” Vicente Fox said.
