The Biden administration is sending Roberta Jacobson, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico and now Biden "border czar," to visit Mexico.  I guess that the legation will talk about the border "challenge."

Remember how well Roberta's last venture turned out?  She negotiated the reopening of diplomatic relations with Cuba.  We remember that episode as Obama and Raúl doing the wave at the baseball game, but nothing changed in Cuba.  Coddling dictators never works!

And neither does failure to read other foreign leaders.

But here we are, and Ambassador Jacobson is going down to Mexico to talk border, according to news reports.

Wonder what that conversation will be? 

Let's imagine Ambassador Jacobson and Mexican president Andrés Manuel López-Obrador talking over a couple of Topo Chicos:

Jacobson: As you know, Señor Presidente, we need your help at the border.

López-Obrador: You opened the border, not us.  We made a deal with President Trump, and it was working well for the U.S. and Mexico.

Jacobson: I know, Señor Presidente.  So we need to re-establish the "remain in Mexico" program, but let's give it a different name so it does not sound like the Trump program.

López-Obrador: How can I help you?  You opened the border, and people accepted your invitation.  And now you want me to bail out your president.

Jacobson: You are right, Señor Presidente.  But we really need your help so we can stop this "challenge" on the border.  It's going to kill us in 2022.

López-Obrador: What are you going to do for Mexico?  My people are furious that you've turned Mexico into a highway to the north.  I've got my own midterm elections in 2021.

After the meeting, Ambassador Jacobson will fly to Washington and tell President Biden that the Mexican president is a very angry man.  The president will ask Vice President Harris to call President López-Obrador.

And so the border goes.  This is what happens when Trump Derangement Syndrome drives your foreign policy and you put a neighbor in a bad situation.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).

Image: Secretaría de Cultura Ciudad de México, via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.