On This Day In 2018
Trump calls Haiti and African nations “shithole countries”
What a shitty thing to say: OTDI 2018, Trump met with lawmakers in the Oval Office. They were encouraging him to allow more immigrants to enter the U.S. from countries in Africa, and elsewhere, that were enduring humanitarian emergencies and war.
What was Trump’s response? He suggested that the U.S. should instead get more people from predominantly white countries like Norway. "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" Trump asked.
He later denied saying it, calling himself “the least racist person.” (Yeah, of course!) But that comment is in line with his many other inflammatory and racist statements.
Trump’s question—which came around the time that his Administration rolled back protections for immigrants—sparked waves of condemnation about Trump’s racist tendencies over the years. It also tanked a bipartisan agreement that had taken months to broker between a coalition of senators. And US diplomats around the world were called in for condemnation by their host nations.
Biden worked to repair the damage: A federal court eventually stopped the Trump Administration’s plans to end protection of citizens from war-torn nations. And under President Biden, the Temporary Protected Status program has been extended and expanded.
@JDawsey1 at The Washington Post reported on Trump’s question: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-attacks-protections-for-immigrants-from-shithole-countries-in-oval-office-meeting/2018/01/11/bfc0725c-f711-11e7-91af-31ac729add94_story.html
Check out the essay from @ibramxk about Trump’s shithole countries remark: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/01/shithole-countries/580054/
@patrickwintour and The Guardian wrote about the global shock: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/12/unkind-divisive-elitist-international-outcry-over-trumps-shithole-countries-remark
News outlets grappled with how—and where—to quote the president directly, as @grynbaum explained at the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/11/business/media/trump-vulgarity.html
Trump calls Haiti, African nations “sh
ithole countries"