Mexican President Says He Hopes Florida Hispanics Don’t Vote for DeSantis

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday that he hoped Florida Hispanics would not vote for newly-declared Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis.

Key Quotes: Following his campaign announcement, DeSantis told Fox News (Right bias) that on day one of his presidency, he would “mobilize all resources to construct the border wall” and “shut the border down.” Discussing DeSantis’ remarks, Obrador said, “All of his playing politics with migrants was because he wanted to be the Republican Party candidate,” adding, “I hope the Hispanics of Florida wake up and don't give him a single vote.”

For Context: This isn’t Obrador’s first spat with Republicans; when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and others called for military intervention against drug cartels in Mexico, Obrador called them “interventionist, arrogant wimps.” The Mexican leader has also opposed the party directly, saying, “If they do not change their attitude and think that they are going to use Mexico for their propaganda, electoral, and political purposes, we are going to call for [Hispanic Americans] not to vote for that party, because it is interventionist, inhumane, hypocritical, and corrupt.”

How the Media Covered It: Fox News said the “unpredictable” Obrador was ramping up “anti-Republican rhetoric,” repeating a previous accusation that the Mexican president was “meddling in U.S. elections against Republicans.” While Reuters (Center bias) and USA Today (Lean Left bias) mentioned DeSantis’ border wall remarks, Fox News omitted them, instead saying he called for “shutting down the border with Mexico.”