H

e drives a white Volkswagen Jetta to work, eschewing the presidential limousine.

He’s ditched his bodyguards, boldly asserting that journalists and ordinary citizens will protect him from assassins.

He plans to make the official executive residence — Los Pinos, seat of power in Mexico since the time of the Aztecs — into a state park.

Meet Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the newly elected president of Mexico, who is determined to set a new course for his country.

The big news on election day, July 1, was Lopez Obrador’s leftist credentials. A populist — some say a socialist — who has vowed to return power to Mexico’s poorest, the election of a man whom some were comparing to Venezuela’s Nicolas Madura sent shock waves from Tijuana to the Yucatán. Indeed, Lopez Obrador ran a campaign against what he termed “the mafia of powerful,” targeting corrupt politicians and businessman who have turned Mexico into a war zone.

To carry out this “revolution of the people,” he says he’ll root out corruption, initiate a public works program that will employ 2.3 million Mexicans, and double the pensions of Mexico’s retired.

If this economic nationalism sounds a little familiar, that’s only one way he resembles the US president, Donald Trump. Lopez Obrador is also a popular showman, someone who knows how to rile a crowd and make big promises.

Eric Olson, the deputy director of the Wilson Center’s Latin American Program and senior advisor to the Center’s Mexico Institute, says Lopez Obrador’s “man of the people” image isn’t fake. “He’s always lived in a very modest house in Mexico City,” Olson explains. “He’s not a billionaire trying to act like a common man; he’s the down-to-earth everyman that he says he is.”

Olson believes Lopez Obrador’s socialist label is a misnomer. Rather, the president is more of a nationalist who wants to spend money at home and keep the country’s international ambitions modest.

“He’s a progressive who cares about social policy,” Olson explains. “He wants to be market friendly and has already met with the business community, committing to work with them on increasing employment, creating apprenticeship, and supporting it with government assistance. He says he’s going to balance the budget and won’t raise taxes. So, he doesn’t fall neatly into a left-right divide. Although I guess you’d have to say he’s a pragmatist and more progressive than conservative.”

Naturally, the question on everyone’s mind is how he’ll get along with President Trump. Olson says the two could develop a productive, cooperative relationship as long they refrain from talking about that border wall.

“Mexico has always said that if the US wants to build a wall, they can do whatever they want on their own territory, but they shouldn’t expect Mexico to foot the bill,” Olson says, “and I don’t think there’s going to be any change there. I think they’ll look for other ways to cooperate, find a solution to the NAFTA negotiations, maybe work together on immigration. On the issue of the border wall, though, there is no common ground.”

And on that other issue that has been beguiling Mexico-United States relations — illegal immigration? Olson thinks Trump and Lopez Obrador might find common ground there as well, especially if the pair thinks creatively.

“They may be able to agree on more legal migration, more temporary worker programs,” Olson says. “Trump has not been willing to consider that so far, but it might be a way for the United States to give in and get something in return from Mexico.” (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 718)