I’m old enough to remember the early days of the presidency of Mexico’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO). Back then, he seemed to demonstrate a very cooperative attitude toward the United States. He worked with Donald Trump to establish the Remain in Mexico policy and actually helped to at least somewhat slow the pace of illegal border crossings. (Of course, Trump threatening him with sanctions if he didn’t straighten up his act certainly helped.) But over the past couple of years, he’s been decidedly less helpful. Last week, however, he took things to the next level in a totally unacceptable way. In response to calls from members of Congress to take action against the Mexican cartels, AMLO threatened to launch an “information campaign” against Republicans in the United States, instructing Mexicans and other Hispanic voters living in America to vote against them and in favor of the Democrats. This blatant threat to interfere with our elections is very much a bridge too far and the Mexican president needs to be held to account over it. (Fox News)

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday threatened to launch an “information campaign” in the United States against Republicans, telling Mexicans and Hispanics not to vote for them unless U.S. lawmakers change their treatment of Mexico – an apparent threat of election interference by the head of state in response to U.S. calls for action against cartels smuggling fentanyl across the border.

“Starting today we are going to start an information campaign for Mexicans who live and work in the United States and for all Hispanics to inform them of what we are doing in Mexico and how this initiative by the Republicans, in addition to being irresponsible, is an offense against the people of Mexico, a lack of respect for our independence, our sovereignty,” he said.

There was a time when AMLO at least pretended to care about the activities of the cartels in his country and promised to bring them to heel. But that obviously hasn’t been the case recently and he’s not even bothering to hide it. We just witnessed a mass incursion over the border near El Paso, clearly orchestrated by the Juarez cartel, and Lopez Obrador didn’t lift a finger to stop it.

But that’s hardly the first sign of trouble that’s been observed. AMLO very much appears to not only be ignoring the activities of the drug cartels, but it seems clear that he’s directly involved with some of them. As Newsmax recently pointed out, the Mexican president increasingly appears to be compromised by his relationships with cartel leaders. Mexico’s government has traditionally been plagued by corruption, but this guy was supposed to be a breath of fresh air. So much for that, I suppose.

We’ve brought this up here before, but it bears repeating. We need Joe Biden to drag himself out of the basement and deliver a stern reminder to AMLO. The United States is Mexico’s largest trading partner. American companies operating in Mexico make up more than half of all foreign investment in that country. We purchase four-fifths of Mexico’s exports. Without us, AMLO wouldn’t even have an economy. And like many other countries, Mexico rests comfortably under America’s umbrella of military deterrence so they don’t need to fund their own forces to any great extent.

We were given a solid indication of AMLO’s new “attitude” during the “three amigos” summit earlier this year. He had the nerve to accuse the United States of ” abandonment, disdain, and forgetfulness” when it comes to Mexico and the rest of Latin America. Then he turned around and thanked Joe Biden for not finishing construction on the southern border wall. It’s obvious that he’s not just failing to shut off the flow of drugs, human trafficking and illegal immigration. He gives every appearance of actively supporting it.

If the endless flow of aid and trade to Mexico from the United States were to suddenly turn into sanctions, Mexico’s economy would implode virtually overnight. And leaders that threaten to meddle in our elections fully deserve such treatment. AMLO needs to be reminded of that very clearly. Sadly, I doubt Joe Biden will take any such action since Lopez Obrador is only threatening the Republicans, not Biden’s party. And that’s probably the precise reason he phrased his threat the way he did.