United States President Donald Trump reportedly used the words “shithole countries” to refer to third-world nations from Africa, along with Haiti and El Salvador, in the Oval Office at the White House on January 11, according to a report in The Washington Post.
The incident occurred when senators in Trump’s office were discussing means to protect immigrants in the United States. Trump interrupted the meeting and said, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”
Trump went on to suggest that instead of bringing in people from the countries he was explicitly opposed to, the United States should try bringing in people from countries like Norway. Trump also suggested that even Asian countries are okay in his book as they are of use to the United States’ economy, according to him.
In particular, Trump was aghast with the idea of Haitian immigrants – he reportedly said, “Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out.”
After the publication of the report, the White House spokesperson Raj Shah did not deny or accept the account, and instead defended Trump’s views on immigration.
“Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,” Shah said in a statement.
Trump’s comments brought about a wave of criticism across American broadcast media and the internet. “Shithole countries” and “shithole” coloured the debate of the hour with many Twitter users pointing out the number of times the word has been used in the past few hours across news channels.
Trump’s critics immediately pounced on the president for his latest anti-immigration remarks. One of Trump’s biggest promises during the lead up to the 2016 presidential election was to build a wall across the US-Mexican border to stop illegal immigrants from Mexico to cross over to the United States. He has also promised to reduce legal immigration by half.
Critics also pointed out the racist tinge in Trump’s latest comment about Haiti (Last year, Trump, according to a New York Times report, said that Haitian immigrants have AIDS) which in turn drew attention to the racist remarks he made in the past.
Trump has previously questioned erstwhile US President Barack Obama’s origins and claimed to have proof of him not being born in the United States of America. Other instances of Trump’s racism include him squabbling on Twitter with protesting black athletes. Trump also called for the death penalty of the five accused – four black men and an Hispanic man – in the Central Park jogger case, where all five men were later found by the court to be innocent.
Some Twitter users reclaimed the word “shithole” and used it for either United States itself or other countries.
Twitter is flooding with all sorts of criticism being made against the US President for his remarks. Journalists, politicians, and celebrities have jumped in to share their two cents on Trump. Former United States attorney and Indian immigrant Preet Bharara and Hollywood personalities actress Mia Farrow and filmmaker Judd Apatow too jumped in the fray.
But it isn’t as if Twitter is the treading ground for only liberals and anti-Trump crusaders. Pro-Trump twitterati either supported Trump’s “shithole countries” remark, or singled out the president’s critics as hypocrites.
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