Among Hillary’s most preposterous, unsustainable lies about her emails was that she deleted only personal emails referencing wedding plans and yoga classes. If there were a grain of truth to the notion of Hillary practicing yoga I’d argue she’d have been better advised to study jiu-jitsu, because her opponent, Donald Trump is a master of that art, turning her attacks on him against her.

The prevailing fairytale spread by her camp is that he is the rough naïf in the thickets of oh-so-difficult to comprehend diplomacy while she is experienced on the world stage. Neither she nor her spokespersons when asked for examples could do more than point to the many miles she traveled as Secretary of State, a claim Carly Fiorina had fun with earlier in the race. She famously said, “"Like Mrs. Clinton I too have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles but flying and traveling is an activity, it's not an accomplishment and unfortunately she didn't accomplish anything as Secretary of State."

This week, Trump proved Carly right and showed that he was vastly more clever than she in the art of diplomacy. Mexican President Nieto invited both candidates to a meeting in Mexico to discuss issues between the two countries. Hillary turned down the invitation, Trump, with a far busier schedule -- a rally in Washington State followed by one in California and another in Arizona, quickly took him up on the offer.

The naysayers prematurely wrote this off as a disastrous move on his part. Instead it was a resounding success.

As Roger L. Simon observed:

Donald Trump's performance at his dual statement cum brief press conference with Mexican President Enrique Nieto on Wednesday should put shivers in the Hillary Clinton camp even more than the new L.A. Times poll numbers showing a sudden bounce for Trump.

Trump was a hundred percent presidential in his performance, showing that he was not about to put his foot in his mouth on the global stage as easily as Hillary's supporters are hoping.  All this is occurring with her email/foundation metastasizing. This election is not over.

Trump had a five-point plan for the border, including the building of the wall, that emphasized a partnership with Mexico. Very smart.  That Trump decided not to discuss with the Mexican president how the wall would be paid for was undoubtedly wise.  Indeed, one simple manner of payment would be a taxation of remittances, which wouldn't involve the Mexican government at all.

The Clinton camp kept firing beanbags at the mission, but some remembered her trip there as Secretary of State when it was apparent that she’d done no homework for the trip as the exchange about the Virgin of Guadalupe -- a national icon revealed:

”You have a marvelous virgin,” Clinton tells Mexicans.

Catholics believe that almost 500 years ago the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted on the cloak of St. Juan Diego, who became the Catholic church's first saint indigenous to the Americas in 2002. According to news agency reports, the basilica's rector, Msgr. Diego Monroy, had had the image lowered from its altar for a closer look by the visiting dignitary.

"Who painted it?" Clinton asked.

"God," the rector replied.

She claimed the Trump visit was a mere photo op. And in a remarkable sign that she lacks self-awareness the Secretary of State when we abandoned Israel, deposed Gadhafi who’d cooperated with us, facilitated arming Iran with nuclear weapons, and stood by as the Kurds were attacked, and drone strikes took out civilians, remarked: “If more countries get nuclear weapons, if we abandon our allies, if our commander in chief orders our military to break the laws and commit torture or murder terrorist family members. That’s why it is so critical we get this right.”

Dan Drezner, among others, warned the visit was likely to be a disaster: “The question is why it is happening. As I’ll explain in a moment, there are so many ways this can go wrong that it boggles the mind. Remember Mitt Romney’s disastrous overseas trip in 2012? Scott Walker’s bumbling overseas trip in early 2015? Multiply that by a factor of 10 and that’s how badly this could go.” 

In any event, the suggestion that Trump would make a fool of himself in Mexico proved once again his detractors were wrong. The picture of him and Nieto was a compelling image of a candidate well suited for the world stage. Both were cordial and frank about the areas they thought they could work together on. Hillary‘s “campaign said they are looking for an "appropriate time" to meet with Nieto, noting that her campaign has been in constant communication with Mexican officials, according to a statement obtained by the Washington Post.” She made a major mistake in not accepting the invitation and no amount of  sniping by her and her followers can undo that. There’s no way she can go now. Trump took her claim of being the superior, experienced diplomat and turned it on its head. He was a figure on the world stage while she was shuffling around Sagaponack begging for more money.

He took the risk and he won:

The stagecraft Wednesday said almost as much as the words that came out of Trump's mouth. The joint press conference with Peña Nieto was set up like a meeting between world leaders, with podiums and questions from the press. 

Trump's team clearly wanted the audience of Americans watching at home to visualize the businessman as their president. 

The GOP nominee seemed to embrace that role. He hardly cracked a smile, and looked somber, nodding respectfully as the Mexican president spoke and as a woman translated for him.

[snip]

By focusing largely on areas of agreement with Mexico's president and refusing to inflame the biggest area of controversy -- the question of whether Mexico is going to pay for a border wall -- Trump tried to show that he's a leader capable of modulating his behavior when the situation requires it.  

The most telling moment came in the question-and-answer section after Trump's statement, when ABC News reporter Jon Karl asked whether Trump and Peña Nieto settled the question of who would pay for the wall. 

Trump said he discussed the wall with Peña Nieto but not who would pay for it. 

The following day, Trump delivered his ten-point plan on immigration. He provided a detailed look at the administration’s refusal to follow immigration law and with the survivors of people murdered brutally by illegal aliens by his side he detailed the cost to America by this Cloward-Piven like effort to swamp the country’s schools and welfare programs with millions of unskilled -- sometimes criminal -- aliens, creating chaos and changing us forever. Instead of the appeals to emotion on behalf of illegal aliens -- a standard feature in today’s news coverage -- he argued for compassion for Americans being overwhelmed with the elite’s generosity at their expense. He argued that our citizens in poverty and crime-ridden neighborhoods and our veterans are more deserving of compassion than people who cannot contribute economically and who may not even accept our cultural norms.

Your newspapers and TV news probably did not cover it adequately. If you can spare the time, I urge you read a transcript of his remarks.

In sum he’d pledged to do the following:

Number One: We will build a wall along the Southern Border.

Number Two: End Catch-And-Release

Number Three: Zero tolerance for criminal aliens

Number Four: Block Funding For Sanctuary Cities

Number Five: Cancel Unconstitutional Executive Orders & Enforce All Immigration Laws

Number Six: We Are Going To Suspend The Issuance Of Visas To Any Place Where Adequate Screening Cannot Occur

Number Seven: We will ensure that other countries take their people back when we order them deported

Number Eight: We will finally complete the biometric entry-exit visa tracking system

Number Nine: We will turn off the jobs and benefits magnet

Number Ten: We will reform legal immigration to serve the best interests of America and its workers

Our message to the world will be this: you cannot obtain legal status, or become a citizen of the United States, by illegally entering our country.

There are those who say that he can never achieve these goals. True, some will require Congressional cooperation and some of his plan may require compromise, but can you doubt this marks a significant step in the right direction?

Following the speech, the switchboard for taking donations was jammed with over $5 million received from appreciative Americans whose legitimate concerns have for too long been treated as racist or inhumane by the kind of people who summer in Martha’s Vineyard, nibble canapés and swill champagne in the Hamptons, whose kids go to tony private schools and who live in gated communities.