Henry Romero/Reuters
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump appeared in a joint press conference with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday afternoon after the pair met in the Mexican capital for a private meeting. “We had a great substantive, constructive exchange of ideas over quite a period of time,” Trump said in an astonishingly subdued tone, speaking without the usual rhetorical and incidendiary flourishes that color his many public appearances. Despite Peña Nieto having previously likened Trump to Hitler, and the GOP nominee’s history of calling Mexicans “rapists,” “murderers,” and using their country as a bogeyman to rally support for his anti-immigration policies, the presser was largely subdued and respectful. “Mexicans have felt offended by what has been said, but I am certain that his genuine interest is in building a relationship,” Peña Nieto said of Trump. In return, the real-estate mogul-turned-politician framed his push for a border wall as a joint effort to “end the movement of illegal drugs, weapons, and funds across our border.” During a Q&A session with reporters, Trump said that he and the president did not discuss who would pay for a border wall—something the nominee has repeatedly insisted the Mexican government would do if he were to become U.S. president.