Trump’s ‘s—hole’ remark sparks bipartisan backlash

by John Bowden - 01/11/18 8:24 PM ET

President Trump sparked bipartisan backlash on Thursday evening following reports that he referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries” during a heated Oval Office meeting with lawmakers to discuss immigration.

Trump reportedly grew frustrated with restoring protections for immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and African nations as part of an immigration deal and suggested the U.S. instead bring in more immigrants from countries such as Norway, the prime minister of which he met Wednesday.

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said, according to The Washington Post, which first reported his comments.

{mosads}

Democrats slammed the comments as racist, while multiple GOP lawmakers called on Trump to clarify his remarks after the White House did not deny the reported comments.

Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah), the nation’s first Haitian-American representative, said the president’s remarks were “unkind, divisive, elitist, and fly in the face of our nation’s values.”

“This behavior is unacceptable from the leader of our nation,” Love said in a statement. “My parents came from one of those countries but proudly took an oath of allegiance to the United States and took on the responsibilities of everything that being a citizen comes with.”

Other Republicans, such as Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah), called for a “detailed explanation” of Trump’s comments, while Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) called them “disappointing.”

“I would not talk about nations like this, because I believe the people of those countries are made in the image of God and have worth and human dignity,” Lankford said in a statement.

“Part of what makes America so special is that we welcome the best and brightest in the world, regardless of their country of origin,” Hatch said in his statement.

Under no circumstances is it acceptable to degrade, denigrate, or dehumanize #TPS immigrants. The White House must immediately explain the situation and leave no doubt regarding what was said and in what context.

— Rep. Carlos Curbelo (@RepCurbelo) January 11, 2018

The president calling #Haiti a “shithole country” ignores the contributions thousands of Haitians have made to our #SoFla community and nation. Language like that shouldn’t be heard in locker rooms and it shouldn’t be heard in the White House

— Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) January 11, 2018

Democrats were less forgiving with their criticism and blasted Republicans for not going further to rebuke the White House.

“This is racism, plain and simple, and we need to call it that. My Republican colleagues need to call it that too,” Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) tweeted.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) tweeted that Trump’s comments “smack of blatant racism — odious and insidious racism masquerading poorly as immigration policy. He does not speak for me as an American.” He echoed his comments on MSNBC.

America is better than this and our president should be too. https://t.co/RIhRpMd7If

— Senator Bob Casey (@SenBobCasey) January 11, 2018

I honestly cannot imagine the pain that those Oval Office comments are causing for immigrants and people of color everywhere. That does not represent who we are as a country. I’m sorry, and we are fighting for you.

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) January 11, 2018

It appears as if the color of money isn’t the only color @realDonaldTrump cares about. These are words of hate and we must condemn them on many sides.https://t.co/SUY7Mr3TEe

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) January 11, 2018

The White House issued a statement Thursday in response to the Post’s story and did not deny Trump’s use of the term “shithole” to describe Haiti and African nations.

The president has been quoted in the past making disparaging comments about Haitian and Nigerian immigrants, comments that were swiftly denied and called “outrageous” by White House officials.

“Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said Thursday.

Trump’s comments came amid a push for a bipartisan deal on immigration as lawmakers rush to meet a Jan. 19 deadline to fund the government.

A bipartisan group of senators said Thursday they had clinched a deal to provide protections to young immigrants known as Dreamers, but faced pushback from Trump and GOP leadership.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during a press briefing later in the day, “There has not been a deal reached yet. However, we still think we can get there and we are very focused on trying to make sure that happens.”