Perhaps the least loved American in all of Mexico is Donald Trump, who has shown in many ways how he despises Mexicans and how he hates us all, beginning with his whimsical Trump wall with which he intends to isolate the USA completely from Mexico, passing through his hatred of the North American Free Trade Agreement which he blames for taking away well paying manufacturing jobs in the USA and taking those jobs to Mexico (in spite of the fact that this is not a new phenomenon, in the past those same jobs were exported to places such as Hong Kong with the brand label Made in Hong Kong clearly visible in many products that were once sold in the USA), and crowning his hating attitude with his fierce anti-immigrant rhetoric that targets mostly Mexicans and Muslims.
The Mexican government has taken a diplomatic cautious approach regarding Trump that does not reflect how many Mexicans feel about Donald Trump, and this servile attitude may turn up next year as one of the reasons the current ruling party PRI could be ousted from the Mexican presidency and replaced with a much more aggressive Mexican leader such as the leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. But until such time comes, there are other things going on, completely beyond the control of the Mexican federal government, that show how most Mexicans are venting their anger against the man they have learned to despise. One of them is a Mexican corporate lawyer and entrepreneur who goes by the name of Antonio Battaglia, who felt offended by the many insults of Donald Trump against the Mexicans and who is now taking advantage of a possible mistake of Trump in the handling of his trademark name in Mexico.
Antonio Battaglia is getting ready to make available in the Mexican market a brand of toilet paper he has baptized with the name “Trump”, promoted with slogans such as “Suavidad sin fronteras” (Softness without borders) and “Este es el muro que sí vamos a pagar” (This is the wall we will pay).
The Instituto de la Propiedad Industrial de México granted Trump the sole right to exploit his name as trademark in a wide range of business sectors, such as construction, tourism, hotels, real estate and financial services. But the Trump Organization forgot to register the trademark for toilet paper (perhaps the thought never crossed its mind), and the request of Battaglia was approved last year in October 2015, according to the data banks of the Instituto.
It is expected that the Trump toilet paper will begin selling in Mexico later on this year. 30% of the earnings will be donated to programs that support immigrants, which will no doubt give Donald Trump one more reason to despise Mexican immigrants. Battaglia stated that he was very offended by what Trump said when he launched his bid for the US presidency, an event in which he described undocumented migrants as criminals, drug traffickers and rapists.
“Mi head spinned, we can't stay silent, no?” stated Battaglia. “I'm going to put my grain of sand, I'm gonna give a reply”. Battaglia added that he signed a contract of 400 thousand pesos (21 thousand 400 dollars) to manufacture enough Trump toilet paper so as to fill two trailers, although he expects there will be enough demand in Mexico to warrant increasing the production of Trump toilet paper. Indeed, this could end up becoming the smashing business success in Mexico this year.
A sample of the Trump toilet paper was presented by Battaglia with an expression saying that it contains “puros rollos” (pure rolls), a word with double meaning in Mexico that can be interpreted as “pure blabbers”. It displays a caricature of someone who lifts his finger as a gesture of approval. It is not an exact image of Trump, but it has a blonde hair that makes anybody clearly think about the US president.
To date, none of the lawyers of the Trump Organization has responded to telephone messages or e-mails from the reporters asking for commentaries. Trump usually defends very fiercely his trademark when he feels it is being misused. Battaglia says he has deep respect for Mexican laws that protect registered trademarks, adding there is no direct link between his product and Donald Trump or his image.
Donald Trump could retaliate by making the Trump toilet paper a high priority issue in the NAFTA trade negotiations, but since almost everybody in Mexico believes that Trump will end up pulling the USA from NAFTA anyway (he promised to do so 200 days after taking office, and the clock is ticking), Trump may end up losing all of his trading leverage with Mexico by an act of his own undoing. Many Mexicans are already anticipating a lot of economic hardship brought against Mexico with the Trump dismantling of NAFTA, but are taking as a consolation the fact that the US pullout from NAFTA is also expected to bring a lot of economic pain and misery to US manufacturers who rely on their exports to Mexico and the rest of Latin America to remain competitive as well as to keep their costs down. Indeed, this could set off a new economic depression such as the one the US experienced in 1929 which lasted more than a decade.
So, in the end, it seems that Donald Trump, or someone bearing his resemblance, will end up being used in most of the rest rooms in Mexico besides being used as a piñata on Mexican parties. As far as many Mexicans are concerned, the only good thing Trump may be good for is as toilet paper, and nothing else. Just the pleasure of wiping off with something that bears his name may be one of the most pleasurable experiences in the toilet room for many Mexicans, and there is a possibility that the Trump toilet paper could end up being exported to other countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were Donald Trump is equally despised.
As already mentioned, this popular mockery of Donald Trump cannot be halted by the Mexican federal government, which is right now much more worried in its survival in the coming Mexican presidential elections to be held next year, and is in no hurry in trying to take any action against a mocking that is being applauded by the vast majority of the Mexican electorate.
On my part, I don't blame Donald Trump for what's happening. I don't even put any blame on the purported Russian hacking and Russian interference of the US presidential process which according to some analysts was a decisive factor in allowing Donald Trump to become president. I put the blame solely and squarely upon the shoulders of all those who freely voted for him. They should have known better. And they should be aware they are not welcome in Mexico, some even consider Trump supporters as full blown enemies of the Mexican people especially those who belong to bizarre Made in America fringe groups such as the KKK, Aryan Nations or Alt-right (at the time of writing, it is my understanding that President Trump is also souring relations with a major European country that used to be a staunch ally of the US in spite of the fact that the simplistic views of Donald Trump regarding US trade with Germany fall short of many realities he should have been aware of long before he aspired to govern the USA). In case any of thousands upon thousands of Trump supporters dare to come anyway to a Mexican resort such as Cancun, Puerto Vallarta or Acapulco, it would be wise for them to keep their admiration and support of Donald Trump to themselves, just to avoid getting into trouble in Mexico. And maybe all of them should bring their own toilet paper. After all, they wouldn't like to wipe themselves clean leaving their imprints on toilet paper that bears the name of the man they so admire.
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