Former Mexican President Fox thinks Trump just used and abused Peña Nieto to soften his image

Mexico’s former president Vicente Fox says current President Enrique Peña Nieto should have taken a cue from him and taken a swing at Donald Trump when he had the chance.

“President Peña Nieto should have told [Trump] exactly the same: ‘We Mexicans are not going to pay for that fucking wall,” Fox said, referring to his own previous comments, which got a rise out of Trump in March.

Fox, who served as Mexico’s president from 2000-2006, thinks Peña Nieto should have taken a stronger stand against Trump, who has been trashing Mexican since launching his campaign 14 months ago.

“It was a very soft position. President Peña Nieto needed to take a much stronger stand and with much more clarity,” Fox said.

The former Mexican president says he’s not convinced by the mild-mannered version of Trump who showed up in Mexico City today. He thinks it’s all an act.

“He’s giving us the violin. He’s giving us el violin. He came to play a nice music here for Mexico and Mexicans, and he will go back to the States and play a different violin to U.S. voters,” Fox said.

Fox says Trump is giving Mexico the two-faced treatment, and thinks that says a lot about the Republican candidate’s character.

“This shows the real Trump, inconsistent and in total conflict with his ideas about the wall,” Fox said.

Trump was just using Peña Nieto to soften his image, Fox charges.

“His message in Mexico on this side of the border is totally opposite to his message to his followers and to U.S. voters and citizens,” Fox said.

The former president says once Trump returns to the U.S. this evening to deliver his highly anticipated immigration speech in Arizona, he’ll go back to being the old, boisterous Trump.

“We’ll see that tonight…as soon as he goes back there. He’s going to be using President Peña Nieto to his benefit,” Fox said.

The former Mexican president thinks Peña Nieto made a mistake by letting Trump off the hook and not demanding an apology for the Mexican people.

“Apologies are most important thing,” Fox told Fusion’s Jorge Ramos and Enrique Acevedo. “We cannot let bygones be bygones.”

“Everyone that comes to Mexico should put their knees on the ground first and ask La Virgen de Guadalupe for forgiveness,” Fox added.