How Does the U.S. Look From Mexico?
An extraordinary news week as seen from Mexico.
Note: Thematically similar posts from my Versus series are linked below:
Living in Mexico provides ample opportunity to regard the United States with a detached, almost clinical eye. This is especially true when you live in Oaxaca, which lies almost as far as you can get in Mexico from the United States border and which is a part of Mexico that sees comparatively little cartel activity. This is a quiet and lovely part of an oft-maligned country, and it’s easy to get breathing room here. From our relatively quiet hillside, it’s easy to see that things in the United States are very, very bad.
I’ve received a lot of nice notes and comments from readers who would like concrete, actionable information about how they can move to Mexico, and I kind of expected that considering, well, *gestures broadly in the direction of the United States.* But I was extremely surprised to see that my memoir posts, taken from the book proposal I’m making progress on, have performed even better. I take it as evidence that while some people want to know how they can start a new and presumably very different life, other people want to feel like it’s possible to do that.
Regardless of which group you belong to, or if neither quite captures what brought you to this newsletter, I can say that both the fantasy and the reality of life here are tantalizing. Both have also been enhanced because, surprisingly, the crazier things get in the U.S., the more normal it seems to feel in Mexico.
The first months of the recently inaugurated president Claudia Sheinbaum have hardly been uneventful, and the decision to push through a radical change to Mexico’s judicial system, which will require all federal judges to be elected rather than appointed, was huge and unsettling news. But in other Sheinbaum is exactly the sort of politician one could hope for, in that she’s educated, experienced with governance, clearly competent, and also kind of awkward and boring.
Having a president who is competent and boring is great. It’s the best. The best president you can hope for is one who’s doing their job well enough that you’re not even really aware that they’re in office. And that’s particularly true when you contrast that president against Donald Trump, who is like the human version of a firehose blasting scalding hot diarrhea directly into the open window of your car while you sit and wait patiently at a stoplight.
Stepping away from the United States makes the trauma happening there feel both more immediate and also further afield. You worry constantly about how the rambling lunacy of a person who is openly and unapologetically fascistic will impact your new home. At the same time, you also feel a bit insulated from that madness, which of course is a major benefit arising from an international relocation.
Sometimes I think about our departure from the United States as if it were a divorce, and our decision to leave was more like an amicable split than a catastrophic falling out. But now that we’re safely in Mexico and seeing how the first few weeks of Trump’s second term are going we’re feeling a bit like we discovered from the safety of a new relationship that our former partner is a serial killer who’s been turning people into lampshades in a dimly lit storage unit.
This isn’t a place that shies away from politics, either. Oaxaca is incredibly political and it’s quite volatile in a way that Americans would have a hard time tolerating. Hardly a week goes by where there isn’t a section of the city, or the highway that leads to our village, that isn’t shut down for multiple hours by irate political protestors. But while our political activity is annoying (which is the point!) and this country certainly has its issues with corruption and violence (including a ridiculous number of cartel-driven political assassinations), it also lacks the high drama that comes from electing a president who’s a fascist.
The U.S. system of checks and balances is essentially theoretical in the face of a Supreme Court that told the president he can pardon himself for any crimes he commits—including murder—so there’s nobody truly able to stop Trump from doing something he really wants to do. From here in Mexico that looks even more absurd than it does in the United States. But as the U.S. deteriorates, Mexico seems to strengthen, and that’s a power dynamic I think will hugely benefit this complicated country.
Very interesting read! I too like your comparison between Sheinbaum and Trump. So accurate. 😆
Your comparison of Sheinbaum vs. Trump is the best I've read so far. I read it to Lurko and both of us laughed. Bravo!