Trump praises Mexicans in surreal speech that sounds nothing like what he's said before

Donald Trump has now gone from demonizing Mexico to commending the country in little more than a year.

The Republican presidential nominee praised Mexicans on Wednesday during a joint press conference with Mexican President Peña Nieto, and pledged to work with Mexico if he is elected president.

The tone of the speech could not have been farther from the tone of Trump's first campaign speech in June, 2015, when he called some Mexican immigrants "rapists."

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," Trump said at the start of his campaign. "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 the people of Mexican heritage whom Trump spoke of on Wednesday were totally different.

"I happen to have a tremendous feeling for Mexican-Americans," Trump said on Wednesday. He then called Mexican-Americans "spectacular hardworking people" and said he had "such great respect for them." It was an entirely different Donald Trump.

Trump's signature campaign issue has been immigration, and one of his biggest talking points has been his desire to build a wall along the Mexican border and getting Mexico to pay for it.

He's said this many times, such as during this CNN debate back in February.

"We're going to make them pay for that wall," Trump said when asked how he would get the money for his signature proposal. This, he did not specify.

But on Wednesday, given the opportunity to tell the Mexican president that Trump does, in fact, plan to make Mexico pay for his proposed border wall, the GOP nominee said he and Nieto didn't talk about who would pay for what.

"We did discuss the wall, we didn't discuss payment of the wall," Trump said. "That'll be for a later date."

That is a very interesting change from earlier in the year, when a red-faced Trump screamed to his supporters: "Who is going to pay for the wall?!" His supporters screamed back: "Mexico!"

Trump's visit to Mexico on Wednesday was hastily arranged, and many journalists, analysts and others struggled to understand what good the meeting would do for either politician.

Nieto is stunningly unpopular in Mexico. His favorability sits at around 23 percent, 11 points lower than Trump's favorability rating in the United States, which is itself among the lowest favorability ratings in history for a major party presidential nominee.

Trump's popularity in Mexico, however, is even worse. A survey taken in June showed 75 percent of Mexicans view him unfavorably. We have no idea why that could be.

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox speculated that Nieto could use the visit to demand Trump apologize for calling Mexican immigrants, "rapists." Others suggested that Trump may have even claimed Nieto agreed to pay for the border wall.

In what has been the most wild presidential election in recent memory, perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that neither of those things happened.

The nation will hear more from Trump on immigration on Wednesday night, when he delivers an immigration policy speech from Phoenix, Arizona.

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