{"id":456754,"date":"2026-02-04T00:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T00:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/456754\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T00:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T00:36:07","slug":"outrage-in-mexico-at-trump-praise-for-legendary-19th-century-us-invasion-donald-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/456754\/","title":{"rendered":"Outrage in Mexico at Trump praise for \u2018legendary\u2019 19th-century US invasion | Donald Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

A message from Donald Trump<\/a> celebrating the 19th-century US invasion of its southern neighbour \u2013 and the subsequent loss of more than half its territory \u2013 has touched a historical nerve in Mexico, with some seeing it as a veiled threat for future incursions.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the US president\u2019s statement, which described the invasion as \u201ca legendary victory\u201d, Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico\u2019s president, said during her morning news conference on Tuesday: \u201cWe must always defend our sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others were less subtle in their criticism. \u201cNever, in the recent annals of Mexico-US relations had we seen anything like this,\u201d wrote the former Mexican ambassador to the US Arturo Sarukhan, on X<\/a>. \u201cThis is not only spiking the ball in the end zone; it\u2019s an in your face F\u2026 You.\u201d<\/p>\n

The message, posted by the White House on Monday, said the US-Mexico war \u201creasserted American sovereignty, and expanded the promise of American independence across our majestic continent\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the conflict has long been a historical sore spot for Mexico: Following the capture of Mexico City by US troops in 1847, Mexico gave away 55% of its pre-war territory, including the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, much of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.<\/p>\n

Trump not only celebrated the war as a \u201ca triumphant victory for American sovereignty\u201d but suggested that much of his policy in Latin America was being \u201cguided by our victory on the fields of Mexico 178 years ago\u201d, including efforts to defend \u201cour southern border against invasion\u201d.<\/p>\n

The message comes as the Trump administration has grown increasingly hawkish in the continent, sending troops into Venezuela last month to capture its president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>, and threatening military action in Colombia and Cuba.<\/a><\/p>\n

As far as Mexico goes, Trump has regularly suggested an incursion south of the border<\/a> to confront the country\u2019s drug-trafficking groups, saying that after taking out numerous alleged drug boats at sea, \u201cwe are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheinbaum has repeatedly rebuffed Trump\u2019s offers to send troops into Mexico, but some saw the White House\u2019s message as yet another veiled threat from Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe continues to view Mexico as a territory to be conquered, not as a partner,\u201d wrote the columnist and political analyst Denise Dresser on X<\/a>. \u201cHe will continue to look for ways to intervene.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Tony Payan, a Mexico expert at Rice University in Texas, saw the statement as less of a threat and more of a slap to one of the US\u2019s most important allies.<\/p>\n

Mexico is \u201ca country that has done nothing but cooperate with US interests on all levels\u201d, he said. \u201cAnd here he is rubbing Mexico\u2019s nose in what is essentially a very deep wound in Mexico\u2019s history \u2026 it\u2019s seared in Mexico\u2019s memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Payan, the statement also speaks volumes as to how Trump would like his presidency to be remembered.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to go down as a great president who expanded the American Empire,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just sheer 19th-century-style imperialism.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A message from Donald Trump celebrating the 19th-century US invasion of its southern neighbour \u2013 and the subsequent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-456754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}