Trump's Personal Grudge Against Mexico

Trump has a rather long and tortured history with the country of Mexico and its people, and he’s made no secret of his disdain for both. Remember how he announced his presidential candidacy?

"…when Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They’re not sending us not the right people."

He’s been tweeting about his hostility toward Mexico for years, primarily related to business deals gone bad— a 2006 conflict with a Mexican businessman involving  the Miss Universe pageant. Trump sued and won, but couldn't collect the money.

A multimillion dollar luxury condo project in Baja that Trump, his children and developers walked away from in 2009, despite selling 80% and collecting $32.5 million in deposits. Trump was later sued by 70 owners who paid millions in deposits for condos that were never completed. Trump ended up settling out of court for an unspecified amount.

Trump was then sued by the Martínez Veloz, on behalf of the Mexican government. The suit accuses Trump of failing to pay taxes on the $32.5 million in predevelopment condo sales for the Baja project. The suit is still pending, and was expanded in 2017 to include a charge of violating Mexican law by purchasing land for the resort without a permit.

Here some additional articles on President Trump's past legal challenges in Mexico.

"The Man Who Made Donald Trump Hate Mexico" (The Daily Beast)
"Trump Accused of Tax Fraud in Mexico" (The Hill)
"Donald Trump Once Got Fleeced in Mexico and He's Still Very Angry (Bloomberg)

​And here are a few of his many tweets over the years describing his hostility toward Mexico, including its court system and business practices:

And when things didn’t go his way in the Mexican court system, Trump tweeted this:

So one must ask, is Trump's obsession about Mexican immigrants really about national security, or is it about something else? Perhaps something of a more personal nature?