By SILVIO CANTO, JR.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden sent Roberta Jacobson, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico and now-Biden “border czar,” to Mexico on Tuesday, March 23.

I guess that the delegation’s main topic of discussion was the current border “challenge.”

Remember how well Roberta’s last big venture turned out? She negotiated the reopening of diplomatic relations with Cuba. We remember that episode as Obama and Raul 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’ intentions.

But here we are, and Ambassador Jacobson went 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 (AMLO) talking over a couple of Topo Chicos:

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

AMLO: You opened the border, not us. We made a deal with former U.S. President Donald Trump and it was working well for the United States and Mexico.

Jacobson:  I know, Señor Presidente. So we need to reestablish “The Remain in Mexico” program, but let’s give it a different name so it does not sound like the Trump program.

AMLO:  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.

AMLO:  So what are you going to do for Mexico in return? My people are furious that you’ve turned Mexico into a highway to the north. I’ve got my own midterm elections in June to worry about.

After the meeting, Jacobson flew back to Washington and told Biden that the Mexican president is a very angry man.

Biden will no doubt now ask U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris to call López Obrador.

And yet another round of diplomatic miscommunication will ensue.

Already-distant neighbors will become even more remote.

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.

SILVIO CANTO, JR. is a Cuban-born U.S. citizen who teaches English at a north Texas college. He is the author of the book “Cubanos in Wisconsin” and has a daily online radio program and blog dealing with U.S. and Latin American politics, as well as sports and historic events, and is a regular contributor to American Thinker.

…March 25, 2021