In things that we can’t believe actually happened in real life, President Trump reportedly referred to multiple African countries and Haiti as “shithole countries” in a meeting about immigration with several members of Congress on Thursday, the Washington Post reports.
According to multiple members of Congress present for the meeting, which included Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Richard Durbin of Illinois, Trump made the comment when discussion turned to the possibility of restoring protections for immigrants from from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal.
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” the president reportedly (yes, seriously) said before saying that the United States should instead admit immigrants from places like Norway.
As happens all too often nowadays, the White House later released a statement on Thursday to defend Trump’s racist, ignorant comment — though no attempt was made to actually deny it.
Statement from @rajshah45 on WaPo “shithole” story, via @JaxAlemany pic.twitter.com/fY6yDTCeRZ
— Stefan Becket (@becket) January 11, 2018
“Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,” Raj Shah, the White House deputy press secretary said/ “Like other nations that have merit-based immigration, President Trump is fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation.”
As you’ll probably remember, this is far from the first time the president has made comments like this. As the New York Times reported earlier this year, he’s also referred to Haitians as “all having AIDS,” and said Nigerians would never “go back to their huts,” once they’d come to the US. Lovely.
Meanwhile, multiple members of Congress have demanded an apology from the president (though considering the fact that the White House has already defended his ignorance, we won’t be holding our breath).
Trump’s disparaging comments about other nations during the DACA negotiations are beneath the office of the Presidency. They don’t reflect the values and opinions of Americans, and he should apologize immediately.
— Bill Keating (@USRepKeating) January 12, 2018
Here is my statement on the President’s comments today: pic.twitter.com/EdtsFjc2zL
— Rep. Mia Love (@RepMiaLove) January 11, 2018
New year, same POTUS I guess.