This weekend’s prison break of a Mexican drug cartel leader proves that Donald Trump was right all along, the business mogul and GOP presidential contender claimed on Monday.
Hours after news broke that Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman had broken out of his maximum security Mexican prison through an elaborate, mile-long tunnel that began in the shower area of his cell, Trump jumped at the chance for what he saw as validation.
{mosads}“Mexico’s biggest drug lord escapes from jail,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday evening. “Unbelievable corruption and USA is paying the price. I told you so!”
“El Chapo and the Mexican drug cartels use the border unimpeded like it was a vacuum cleaner, sucking drugs and death right into the U.S.,” he added.
Trump found himself in hot water shortly after his presidential announcement late last month for divisive comments claiming that Mexican immigrants were bringing little into the U.S. other than drugs, crime and rape.
Multiple Republicans immediately distanced themselves from the comments and said that they threatened to hurt the Republican brand. Macy’s, NASCAR, NBCUniversal and other major companies also dropped their ties with Trump due to what many found to be the offensive nature of the comments.
But if anything, the furor surrounding Trump’s comments has only increased his standing among some voters.
Last week, he was leading in a poll of presidential hopefuls.
Over the weekend, thousands of people turned out to see Trump speak at a rally in Phoenix, during which he said that the U.S. is “getting ripped” by illegal immigration.
“For some reason, some people just don’t get it,” Trump told his supporters.
On Monday morning, he said that the weekend’s events should prompt an apology for the scorn he received from his earlier comments.
Pointing to Guzman’s escape, he said, the comments “turned out to be true.”