What a difference a day makes! Especially when that day was November 5th.

For the last four years, Mexico stood by while Joe Biden threw open the borders and did nothing about the drug cartels. Millions of people illegally entered during that period and deadly narcotics flooded the country. Now that the American electorate voted for real border security and an end to narco-trafficking, the Mexican government has decided to act -- before Donald Trump and his hardliners act first:

With Trump and his allies this year floating the use of American military force against Mexico’s drug cartels, Mexican officials have tried to learn whether he is serious or merely blustering to gain leverage in talks about shutting down the pipeline of migrants and drugs heading into the U.S. Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has rushed to blunt criticism from Trump’s orbit and put to rest worries at home that there is any danger from the country’s neighbor to the north. 

“There won’t be an invasion,” Sheinbaum said at a recent news conference. “It’s not going to happen.” ...

During his campaign, Trump said he would take military action against cartels, impose a naval embargo to prevent drugs from crossing the border and designate cartels and their leaders as foreign terrorists. Separately, the Republican president-elect has threatened 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico if the country doesn’t stop the flow of migrants and fentanyl. The Republican Party’s platform includes use of the military at the border.

In response, Sheinbaum has rushed to show her administration isn’t soft on drugs and migrants. Her government has gone after fentanyl smugglers in Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa cartel, seizing 1.3 tons of the drug in a record bust. She has sent her security minister to Sinaloa to oversee the efforts to take back control of a state where organized crime dominates the political establishment and two factions are in a turf war.

Wonderful thing, elections.

This might be the most impactful presidential transition ever. Ronald Reagan got the hostages out of Iran by winning the election, but Trump is resetting the world stage well ahead of his inauguration. His upcoming term has forced world leaders to recalculate across the board, including on both of our national borders. Mexico barely lifted a finger under Joe Biden to deal with the narco- and human-trafficking cartels (which likely overlap anyway), because Biden never gave them a reason to take serious action.

Sheinbaum's tone has changed considerably over the last few weeks too. One month earlier, she claimed that Mexico was doing what it could to deal with the cartels and the border crisis:

“Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border,” he said in a post on Truth Social. “It was a very productive conversation!”

Sheinbaum’s account differed from Trump’s.

“In our conversation with President Trump, I explained to him the comprehensive strategy that Mexico has followed to address the migration phenomenon, respecting human rights,” she said on X. “We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but instead build bridges between government and people.”

Old and busted: Let's build bridges! New hotness: Look at us -- we're busting people!

Would this change have happened under Kamala Harris? Oh, let's not always see the same hands ... Not only did Harris run away from her status as Biden's border czar, she couldn't articulate a single policy of the Biden-Harris administration that she would change as president. That's what she told Sunny Hostin on The View during the election, and what voters wanted was a complete change -- especially on immigration and border security.

Harris didn't get that message. Sheinbaum did.