Vicente Fox: ‘I really thought the United States could not have a president like Donald Trump’

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox was in Dubai on election night when the results came through.

“It was terrible for me that night. I didn’t go to bed, I couldn’t go to sleep,” he said.

Fox, a brash former businessman-turned-politician, had reason to lose sleep over Trump’s election. As soon as Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015, bashing Mexico and Mexicans, Fox became one of Trump’s most outspoken Mexican critics.

{mosads}“That’s my character, that’s the way I am and I don’t like to be offended like that and I decided to do something,” Fox said.

“I really thought he would not win. I really thought the United States could not have a president like Donald Trump,” he said.

Trump’s populist message was especially jarring to Fox, who’s spent his political career fighting against populism in Latin America.

“What was my feeling? First of all, sadness. I really felt sad,” he said. “Because the United States, this great nation, this leading nation of the world, had elected a leader that, if [he has] any qualification, it’s that he’s not a leader.

“So sadness. … And then, I got my courage out.”

Since the election, Fox has kept up his taunts to Trump over border wall funding. In September, he announced a fake presidential bid against Trump in 2020.

“It’s like in boxing. He is my punching bag. So that brings me joy,” Fox said.