Donald Trump might be a xenophobic and racist demagogue, but the people who chant “Viva Mexico!” and wave Mexican flags at anti-Trump rallies across the United States are doing him a big favour.
Over the past two weeks, there have been incidents in San Diego, Anaheim, Albuquerque and other US cities in which some anti-Trump protesters have waved Mexican flags.
Needless to say, Trump supporters and some conservative media have made the most of this, portraying it as evidence to support their prejudices that most Mexican Americans are somehow not American, or are even anti-American.
“The protesters in New Mexico were thugs who were flying the Mexican flag,” Trump tweeted after the May 24 protests that turned violent and left several policemen injured in Albuquerque. “The rally inside was big and beautiful, but outside, criminals.”
