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Trump attacks protections for immigrants from ‘shithole’ countries in Oval Office meeting


President Trump grew frustrated with lawmakers Thursday in the Oval Office when they floated restoring protections for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal, according to two people briefed on the meeting.

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said, according to these people, referring to African countries and Haiti. He then suggested that the United States should instead bring more people from countries like Norway, whose prime minister he met yesterday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...1ac729add94_story.html?utm_term=.08ee0dc08576
 

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He then suggested that the United States should instead bring more people from countries like Norway, whose prime minister he met yesterday.

Why would people who live in Norway would want to live in the US when they have a way way better standard of living than the US? This question should be directed to Trump.
 

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United Nations and countries insulted by Trump respond to president's crass comments
Kim Hjelmgaard
Jan. 12, 2018


President Trump reportedly lashed out at immigrants Thursday, questioning in talks with lawmakers why the United States would accept more immigrants from Haiti and "shithole countries" in Africa rather than places like Norway. The Washington Post first reported his comments. On Friday, Trump appeared to deny making the comments, saying that "tough" language was used, but not that specific combination. The "shithole countries," and others, still lashed back.

More: Trump appears to deny using vulgar term to describe immigrant countries

HAITI
"SHAME ON TRUMP!," said former president Laurent Lamothe on Twitter.

"The world is witnessing a new low today with this #ShitholeNations remark! totally unacceptable! uncalled for moreover it shows a lack a respect and IGNORANCE never seen before in the recent history of the US by any President! Enough is enough!!

Twitter user Harold Isaac shared idyllic-looking pictures of his country alongside the following comments: "Hey #ShitHolePresident! Here is what my #shithole looks like."


Haiti's U.S. ambassador condemned the statements in more diplomatic terms.

"In the spirit of the people of Haiti we feel in the statements, if they were made, the president was either misinformed or miseducated about Haiti and its people," Paul G. Altidor said. Haiti formally summoned a U.S. official to explain the remarks.

UNITED NATIONS
Rupert Colville, a human rights spokesman for the international organization, said: "If confirmed these are shocking and shameful comments from the president of the United States, I'm sorry but there is no other word for this but racist."

"You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes,’ whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome," he said in Geneva.

AFRICAN UNION
The 55-member continental organization that works for greater economic and political unity and solidarity across Africa said it was "frankly alarmed" by Trump’s comments.

"Given the historical reality of how many Africans arrived in the United States as slaves, this statement flies in the face of all accepted behavior and practice,” African Union spokeswoman Ebba Kalondo said in a statement. "This is particularly surprising as the United States of America remains a global example of how migration gave birth to a nation built on strong values of diversity and opportunity."

KENYA
Boniface Mwangi, a social activist, tweeted that Africa "isn’t a shithole."

"How America elected a narcissist, racist, white supremacist to be their president defies logic. Africa sends love and light to America. #ShitholeTrump," he said.


SOUTH AFRICA
Leanne Manas, a television anchor for the South African Broadcasting Corporation, tweeted: "Good morning from the greatest most beautiful ‘shithole country’ in the world!!!" Many South Africans expressed solidarity with her ironic comments.


The Daily Show tweeted of its South African-born host, Trevor Noah: "As someone from South Shithole, Trevor is deeply offended by the president’s remarks."

The Daily Maverick, a South African media outlet, wrote: "Casual Friday at the White House is soon to include hoods and tiki torches at this rate."

BOTSWANA
"Highly irresponsible, reprehensible and racist," the country's foreign ministry said.

"The Government of Botswana is wondering why President Trump must use this descriptor and derogatory word, when talking about countries with whom the U.S. has had cordial and mutually beneficial bilateral relations for so many years."

MEXICO
Vincente Fox, Mexico's former president and a longtime Trump social media troll, was particularly blunt in his assessment of Trump's vulgarity.

"Your mouth is the foulest shithole in the world. With what authority do you proclaim who’s welcome in America and who’s not. America’s greatness is built on diversity, or have you forgotten your immigrant background, Donald?" he said.

FRANCE
The French gave a very French reaction.

Government spokesman Benjamin Grivaux told reporters after a Cabinet meeting that "silence" was preferable to any reaction in response to Trump’s vulgar comments.

"We must keep a correct language especially when we speak about countries that sometimes suffered from bad weather, a great poverty and that are in a great distress."

ASIA
In Asia, there appeared to be some confusion over how exactly Trump's reported comments should be translated for domestic audiences.

According to a roundup published by the AFP news agency, Japan used the phrase "like toilets" for "shithole"; South Korea: "beggar’s den"; Vietnam: "rotten"; Taiwan: "birds don’t lay eggs"; China: "bad." The Philippines (playing it safe) used "shithole."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/12/trump-denies-sort-cifer/1027493001/
 

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Trump appears to deny using vulgar term to describe immigrant countries after backlash
David Jackson,
Jan. 12, 2018

WASHINGTON – After international backlash, President Trump appeared Friday to deny using a vulgar term to describe Haiti, El Salvador and African countries, and instead sought to put the redirect the focus on what he called unacceptable Democratic proposals on immigration.

"The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used," Trump tweeted. "What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made - a big setback for DACA!"

The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made - a big setback for DACA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
The attempt to clarify came after The Washington Post reported that Trump questioned in a meeting with lawmakers on Thursday why the U.S. would accept immigrants from "shithole countries" like Haiti or in Africa rather than in places like Norway. Trump had met the previous day with the prime minister of Norway.

"Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" Trump reportedly told lawmakers during negotiations over DACA: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program designed to block deportation of young people brought to the United States illegally by their parents.

In a subsequent tweet, Trump denied saying anything derogatory of Haiti in particular. "Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country," he said, and suggested he would record future meetings.

Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said “take them out.” Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings - unfortunately, no trust!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
Trump has threatened to kill the DACA program unless Democrats agree to a host of new security measures designed to block illegal immigration, including a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Yet upcoming negotiations between the White House and Congress on immigration are likely to be shadowed by the reported presidential comments, which some lawmakers and human rights officials denounced as racist.

"The President’s statement is shameful, abhorrent, unpresidental, and deserves our strongest condemnation," said Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. "We must use our voices to ensure that our nation never returns to the days when ignorance, prejudice, and racism dictated our decision making."

Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, a daughter of Haitian immigrants, demanded Trump apologize, calling his comments "unkind, divisive, (and) elitist," and that they "fly in the face of our nation’s values."

The government of Haiti has demanded that U.S. officials provide an explanation of the president's remarks.

Rupert Colville, a human rights spokesman for the United Nations, said: "If confirmed, these are shocking and shameful comments from the president of the United States, I'm sorry but there is no other word for this but racist."

During his Friday tweet storm, Trump also rejected a bipartisan congressional proposal on DACA, saying it lacked funding for the U.S.-Mexico wall and did not end programs like "chain migration."

While some Republicans supported the proposed compromise, Trump put the blame on Democrats.

Saying he wanted a "merit based" immigration system that blocks drug dealers and criminals, Trump said the bipartisan proposal would somehow force the United States to "take large numbers of people from high crime countries which are doing badly."

The so-called bipartisan DACA deal presented yesterday to myself and a group of Republican Senators and Congressmen was a big step backwards. Wall was not properly funded, Chain & Lottery were made worse and USA would be forced to take large numbers of people from high crime.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
....countries which are doing badly. I want a merit based system of immigration and people who will help take our country to the next level. I want safety and security for our people. I want to stop the massive inflow of drugs. I want to fund our military, not do a Dem defund....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
Democrats said Trump's goal, reflected in his alleged comment, is to allow immigration from predominantly white countries and block it from predominately black and brown countries.

Some congressional Democrats have threatened to block a new government spending plan unless the DACA program for young people is addressed, risking a government shutdown that also drew Trump's ire.

"Sadly, Democrats want to stop paying our troops and government workers in order to give a sweetheart deal, not a fair deal, for DACA," Trump tweeted. "Take care of our Military, and our Country, FIRST!"

If it happens, a government shutdown would not cut off funding for troops or military operations; only non-essential personnel would be affected.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/12/trump-denies-sort-cifer/1027493001/
 

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Trump rejects bipartisan immigration deal, denies controversial remark
By Sara Shayanian
Jan. 12, 2018

(UPI) -- President Donald Trump has slammed a bipartisan immigration deal proposed by six senators to protect young "Dreamer" immigrants in the United States, calling it a big step backward.

Sens. Jeff Flake R-Ariz. and Dick Durbin D-Ill. announced the bipartisan agreement Thursday, to protect immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program while simultaneously implementing a border security package -- a project Trump has called for since his campaign for president.

The details of the deal -- which was agreed upon by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Durbin and Flake -- are unknown.

"We've got this bipartisan group. We are at a deal. ... It's the only game in town," Flake said.

However, Trump said Friday he's not on board with the proposal -- partly because of the wall he wants built along the U.S.-Mexico border.

"The so-called bipartisan DACA deal presented yesterday to myself and a group of Republican Senators and Congressmen was a big step backwards," Trump tweeted. "[The border wall] was not properly funded, Chain & Lottery were made worse and USA would be forced to take large numbers of people from high crime countries which are doing badly."

The president added that he wanted "a merit based system of immigration and people who will help take our country to the next level" and "safety and security" for Americans.

"Because of the Democrats not being interested in life and safety, DACA has now taken a big step backwards," Trump added. "The Dems will threaten "shutdown," but what they are really doing is shutting down our military, at a time we need it most. Get smart, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

Trump, who purportedly questioned Thursday why people from "shithole countries" wanted to emigrate to the United States, asked Congress to create a immigration bill in exchange for funding for the border wall.

Friday, he denied that he used the term to describe some migrants' countries -- including Haiti and El Salvador.

"The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used," Trump wrote in a tweet. "What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made - a big setback for DACA!" -- referring to his remarks.

"Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country," Trump added later. "Never said "take them out." Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings - unfortunately, no trust!"

Durbin and Graham were told on Thursday that Trump would not agree to the deal.

"We were hoping for that, but the president is not prepared to do that at this moment," Durbin said.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during a briefing that no deal had been reached yet.

"However, we still think we can get there and we are very focused on trying to make sure that happens," she said.

DACA shields nearly 800,000 young immigrants from deportation by allowing them to work and study legally in the United States. Earlier this week, a federal judge blocked the administration's plans to end the program.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/201...ies-controversial-remark/9221515760001/?nll=1
 

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Trump's Vulgar Remarks on Immigration Confirmed by Senator
January 12, 2018

Reports that U.S. President Donald Trump used a vulgar term to describe Haiti and African nations have been confirmed by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, who was in an Oval Office meeting Thursday when the President called them "s---hole countries."

Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, described the president's words as "hateful, vile and racist." He said Twitter denials by Trump are "not true. He said these hate-filled things. And he said them repeatedly."

Trump took to Twitter on Friday to deny using the vulgar term during a White House meeting Thursday on immigration.


In another Twitter post, the president wrote that he "never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very troubled and poor country." The president said he has a wonderful relationship with Haitians and suggested future meetings probably should be recorded.


Durbin said when the issue of Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants in the U.S. was raised, the president responded "Haitians. Do we need more Haitians?" Durbin recounted that Trump went on to discuss similarly protected immigration from Africa, "calling the nations they come from s---holes."

The comments, first reported Thursday by The Washington Post, were made during a presentation by Durbin and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham about bipartisan legislation to protect from deportation those immigrants who were illegally brought to the U.S. as children by their parents. Durbin noted that Graham confronted the president about his remarks.

8C9F3685-9E94-4AB6-9DE2-371E4821BBCB_w650_r0_s.jpg

FILE - U.S. President Donald Trump, right, listens as U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, D-IL, speaks during a bipartisan meeting with legislators on immigration reform at the White House in Washington, Jan. 9, 2018. In a follow-up bipartisan meeting January 11, Trump questioned why the United States would want to have immigrants from Haiti and African nations.

The president also asked why the United States would allow more immigrants from Haiti and Africa rather than countries like Norway. The president met with Norway's prime minister Wednesday.

At the United Nations on Friday, when VOA asked Norway's foreign minister for reaction to the president's comments, Norway's foreign minister replied "I don't think right now," before hurrying to a meeting with the U.N. secretary-general.


VOA correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.

https://www.voanews.com/a/reaction-trump-remarks-haiti-africa/4204734.html
 

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The “S******* Countries”—and the Rest of the World—Respond to President Trump
By Robin Wright
12 Jan 2018
Wright-Trump-Shithole-American-Image.jpg

With one word—the latest in a string of slurs about other nations and peoples—President Trump has demolished his ability to be taken seriously on the global stage.
Photograph by Majdi Fathi / NurPhoto / Getty



President Trump’s credibility as a world leader has been, to borrow his vulgarity, shot to shit. With one word—just the latest in a string of slurs about other nations and peoples—he has demolished his ability to be taken seriously on the global stage. “There is no other word one can use but ‘racist,’ ” the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said at a briefing in Geneva. “You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes,’ whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome.”

On Friday morning, the President offered a tepid denial on Twitter, acknowledging that “tough” language was used in a White House meeting on immigration. Trump has so often glibly smeared other nations, however, that it almost doesn’t matter what “tough” word he used. He has a proven track record of bigotry. He has been quoted as saying that Nigerians will “never go back to their huts” once they visit America, that Africa sends its “worst of the worst” to the U.S., and that Haitian immigrants “all have AIDS.”

As I’ve found (to an embarrassing degree) over the past two years, many senior officials in foreign capitals and in embassies across Washington believe that he is simply articulating his intolerant and prejudiced world view. The White House signalled as much in its damage-control statement, on Thursday, explaining that the President wants to “make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation.”

Trump is now preparing to attend the World Economic Forum, a gathering of global leaders in politics and business, held annually in Davos, Switzerland. Many American allies have long been wary of the President’s “America First” framework. After his remarks this week, the danger is that his counterparts will also view his agenda as “White First”—not a viable strategy in a world that places growing value on racial diversity.

Trump’s world view is tragic for so many reasons. First, he’s just wrong on the basics. As the Republican pollster Frank Luntz tweeted, “43% of immigrants from ‘shithole’ African countries have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 33% of the overall American population. Nigerian-Americans, for instance, have a median household income well above the American average.” Our own capital is rich with industrious Ethiopians (so many that there are direct flights from Washington to Addis Ababa). After English, the words I use the most in Washington (from a limited vocabulary) are Amharic.

Trump’s bigoted world view also ignores history, indicating once again that the President knows little about America’s own past. As Ebba Kalondo, the African Union spokeswoman, noted on Friday, “Considering the historical reality of how many Africans arrived in the U.S. during the Atlantic slave trade, this flies in the face of all accepted behavior and practice.” Criticism came not only from Africa. David Miliband, the former British Foreign Secretary and the current president of the International Rescue Committee, tweeted in astonishment, “Trump Administration leading a race to the bottom on refugees and immigrants that is a betrayal of America’s future as well as of its history. These are PEOPLE.”

Africa is home to 1.2 billion people and more than fifty countries. A whole continent can’t simply be stereotyped or dismissed. A cursory glance of Africa’s achievements includes Nobel Prizes in medicine, chemistry, physics, literature, and peace. (That’s one award Donald Trump will surely never win.) Africa is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Nigeria has built a vibrant film industry. South Africa’s peaceful transition from apartheid is a model for nations worldwide. Egypt includes a quarter of the Arab world’s population. Rwanda, once ravaged by genocide, is today a model for gender equality in politics: the East African nation has the world’s highest percentage of female lawmakers—more than sixty per cent. (As of last month, the United States ranked ninety-ninth among a hundred and ninety-three countries, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.)

Having strong alliances with African nations is also crucial to Trump’s national-security challenges. Africa’s security means American security, too. With the collapse of the Islamic State’s caliphate in Syria and Iraq, several hotbeds of jihadi extremism are in Libya, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, and Somalia. With the support of African nations, the United States has deployed Special Forces and bombed extremists to deal with dangerous cells. And, by the way, roughly one out of every three women and one out of every five men in the U.S. military are African-American.

Finally, the President’s coarse language will make it harder to make gains in his diplomatic agenda worldwide. Pity American diplomats, especially in non-white countries. The top U.S. envoy in Botswana was summoned to clarify whether the southern African nation is considered a shithole country, the Washington Post reported.

Perhaps the ultimate irony is that Trump’s own ancestors came from Africa, as did all mankind. In the book and documentary “The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey,” the geneticist and anthropologist Spencer Wells traces the human migration out of Africa. He travelled the world for a decade to trace genetic markers by taking blood samples—from Bushmen in the sweltering Kalahari Desert and the Chukchi in icy Siberia to the Hopi in the American West—to prove the trail of the human migration. Wells concludes, “Old concepts of race are not only socially divisive but scientifically wrong.”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news...e-rest-of-the-worldrespond-to-president-trump
 

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Hah, Dick Durbin is to be trusted? A game of hearsay now. Two republican senators present at the time (and Trump himself) have denied he used those particular words.

Fun to see everyone jump to conclusions on allegations so quickly...the alinsky playbook by the Democrats is in full operation as the noose tightens around Fusion GPS and the dirty dossier....and associated use of FISA. They certainly want to take the optics off the fact that Trump noticeably is not how he is described in "Fire and Fury" (another democrat hit piece relying on hearsay, not facts)...given the whole immigration meeting Trump set up and then even supported a bipartisan approach (DACA for the wall etc)....I mean would a clearly non-functional president be able to do such? So that growing narrative has to be countered, what better way for some hearsay from a closed door meeting. Democrats have somewhat learned their lesson (as they perceive it) from the "hidden" trump voters that wreaked havoc on them on nov 8th 2016.

Why would people who live in Norway would want to live in the US when they have a way way better standard of living than the US? This question should be directed to Trump.

Maybe ask the Norwegians that immigrate/have immigrated each year to the US? "Average standard of living" is not the be all, end all for immigration....firstly it depends how you define such....and then you have to consider the normal distribution of all populations (given what a mean is compared to population spread), and then consider and do the same for all the other factors people immigrate for.

Trump is simply stating there should be a merit based immigration system in place (which even far more Socialist Canada already has in place for decades now)....and that immigration will skew back to better developed countries unlike the current system (which was a democrat policy combined with the courting of illegal immigration + later amnesty, largely done to gain future votes and largely has succeeded for them, but at the detriment of the US imo).
 

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Hah, Dick Durbin is to be trusted? A game of hearsay now. Two republican senators present at the time (and Trump himself) have denied he used those particular words.

Fun to see everyone jump to conclusions on allegations so quickly...the alinsky playbook by the Democrats is in full operation as the noose tightens around Fusion GPS and the dirty dossier....and associated use of FISA. They certainly want to take the optics off the fact that Trump noticeably is not how he is described in "Fire and Fury" (another democrat hit piece relying on hearsay, not facts)...given the whole immigration meeting Trump set up and then even supported a bipartisan approach (DACA for the wall etc)....I mean would a clearly non-functional president be able to do such? So that growing narrative has to be countered, what better way for some hearsay from a closed door meeting. Democrats have somewhat learned their lesson (as they perceive it) from the "hidden" trump voters that wreaked havoc on them on nov 8th 2016.



Maybe ask the Norwegians that immigrate/have immigrated each year to the US? "Average standard of living" is not the be all, end all for immigration....firstly it depends how you define such....and then you have to consider the normal distribution of all populations (given what a mean is compared to population spread), and then consider and do the same for all the other factors people immigrate for.

Trump is simply stating there should be a merit based immigration system in place (which even far more Socialist Canada already has in place for decades now)....and that immigration will skew back to better developed countries unlike the current system (which was a democrat policy combined with the courting of illegal immigration + later amnesty, largely done to gain future votes and largely has succeeded for them, but at the detriment of the US imo).


From 2007-2016, less than 1,000 Norwegians naturalized as US citizens, according to US Department of Homeland Security data. That's an average of 100 Norwegians a year -- less than .000001 percent of Norway's population.

665 Americans became Norwegian citizens between 2006-2016, according to Statistics Norway.

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/12/europe/norway-trump-reaction-intl/index.html

Just so you know that people immigrate for a reason not that they decide to immigrate for nothing. In Canada and the US most applications are coming from South Asia, South America and the ME. Hardly you find EU applicants.
 

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Just so you know that people immigrate for a reason not that they decide to immigrate for nothing.

The host country also gets to have a say in who it decides it wants and can take in with reasonable assimilation and economic sustainability as it judges.

Of course people never immigrate for no reason. Even the immigrants (often posing to be Syrian/Libyan to be easily admitted) in Germany etc... choose to do so for a reason....often as simple as social welfare shopping or employment prospects (rather than actual Syrians who are fleeing warzones etc). The point is, is the reason valid and acceptable to those already living in a country that have framed a rules based system? That is for the policy makers and courts and leaders of that country to determine...through a process of democracy/referenda. It is their sovereign right and only theirs alone. A large part of why Trump got elected is the 8 years preceding under Obama.

In Canada and the US most applications are coming from South Asia, South America and the ME. Hardly you find EU applicants.

All I am saying is there should ideally be a full merit based system (for any country)....based on what the country (by way of elected representatives) wants rather than on what the rest of the world wants/provides. That is the only large sustainable way of doing it (the intersection between those two sets). Anything else leads to distortions that create much negative effects on social cohesion and the economy etc.
 

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'I am not racist,' Trump says, after 'shithole' nations remark fallout
Kevin Rawlinson and agencies
Mon 15 Jan 2018

President says he is ‘least racist person you’ve ever interviewed’ as he denies making comment


Donald Trump has insisted he is not racist following an international outcry over an offensive comment he is accused of making about some African, central American and Caribbean countries.

The US president was criticised by the UN and the African Union (AU) after it was credibly reported that he had referred to Haiti, El Salvador and nations in Africa as “shithole countries” during an Oval Office meeting on Thursday.

Trump defended himself on Sunday, telling reporters “I am not a racist” as he arrived for dinner at his private golf club with the House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy.

“I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed. That I can tell you,” he said.

On Friday, the UN human rights spokesman, Rupert Colville, condemned the “shocking and shameful” comment.

“You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes’ whose entire populations are not white and, therefore, not welcome,” he told reporters at a news briefing in Geneva.

Trump has previously tried to pass a ban on travel to the US from various Muslim-majority countries, which a judge said was a continuation of his “promise to exclude Muslims from the United States”.

Colville said: “This isn’t just a story about vulgar language. It’s about opening a door to humanity’s worst side. It’s about validating and encouraging racism and xenophobia that will potentially disrupt and even destroy the lives of many people.

“And that’s perhaps the single most damaging and dangerous consequence of this type of comment by a major political figure.”

The AU, made up of 55 countries, also condemned the remark and demanded an apology.

“This is even more hurtful given the historical reality of just how many Africans arrived in the United States as slaves and also terribly surprising, as the United States remains a massively positive example as just how migration can give birth to a nation,” said a spokeswoman for the union’s chair.

Trump has faced claims of racism throughout his adult life. He insisted Barack Obama was not born in the US during his presidency and demanded that his predecessor release his birth certificate to demonstrate otherwise.

In 1989, he took out full-page ads in four New York newspapers demanding the return of the death penalty after five black teenagers were arrested over the rape of a woman in Central Park. They were innocent.

In 1973, the family business, of which Trump was president, was sued by the Department of Justice for refusing to rent apartments to African Americans. The suit was settled “without an admission of guilt” and the organisation was required to make a series of changes designed to ensure it complied with anti-discrimination laws.

The comment about other nations was reportedly made during a bipartisan meeting aimed at finding a compromise deal for Dreamers, young people without legal immigration status who were brought to the US as children. Unless an agreement is reached, the Daca program will be scrapped in early March.

Hopes of reaching a deal were unravelling on Sunday amid a war of words over the remark.

After the meeting, the Democratic senator Dick Durbin said Trump had made repeated “hate-filled, vile and racist” remarks. Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator, described the reports as “basically accurate”.

Two other Republican senators, David Perdue and Tom Cotton, issued a statement on Friday saying they did not “recall the president saying those comments specifically”. Two days later, they backtracked.

Perdue described the reports that Trump used the word as a “gross misrepresentation”. He said Durbin and Graham had been mistaken. All four senators were at the meeting.

“I am telling you that he did not use that word. And I’m telling you it’s a gross misrepresentation,” Perdue said on ABC’s This Week.

Cotton told CBS’s Face the Nation that he did not hear the word being used “and I was sitting no further away from Donald Trump than Dick Durbin was”.

On Sunday, Trump said: “Did you see what various senators in the room said about my comments? They weren’t made.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...s-after-backlash-over-shithole-nations-remark
 

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South Africa to formally protest Trump's 'shithole countries' remarks
By David McKenzie, Elise Labott and Susannah Cullinane, CNN
January 15, 2018

Johannesburg (CNN)South Africa will issue a diplomatic protest to the United States Monday over US President Donald Trump's "shithole countries" comments, according to its foreign ministry.

During an Oval Office meeting on immigration Thursday, Trump expressed frustration with people coming to the United States from countries in Africa and elsewhere, sources told CNN.

Trump on Friday denied describing certain nations in such vulgar terms, tweeting: "The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used." He also defended himself Sunday night, telling reporters he is "not a racist."

South Africa's government will formally protest to the US Embassy in Pretoria on Monday, the Department of International Relations announced in a statement released to media on Sunday.

"The Department will provide an opportunity to the Charges de Affaires to explain the statement that African countries, alongside Haiti and El Salvador, constitute 'shitholes' from where migrants into the United States are undesirable," it said.

The statement goes on to say that the government noted Trump's denial that this exact language was used but said it "has noted further that President Trump's denial was not categorical, referring only to Haiti and not addressing the entirety of the statement attributed to him."

"South Africa aligns itself with the statements issued by the African Union and the Africa group of Ambassadors to the United Nations in New York. Africa is united in its affirmation of the dignity of the people of Africa and the African diaspora.

"Relations between South Africa and the United States, and between the rest of Africa and the United States, must be based on mutual respect and understanding," the statement concluded.

US confirms diplomats summoned
Under Secretary of State Steve Goldstein told CNN that the top US diplomats in South Africa and Ghana had been summoned to meet with the governments on Monday.

The governments of Haiti, Botswana and Senegal also summoned US diplomats in those countries in the past few days. The State Department is expecting more diplomats to be called in this week, Goldstein said.

The "President has the right to make whatever remarks he wants and we respect the President," Goldstein said, but he noted that diplomats had been instructed to "reaffirm that the US remains committed to its relationships with these countries and cares deeply about their people."

"They will have to work extra hard to send that message right now, but that's part of their responsibility. It doesn't change what they do," Goldstein said.

State Department officials said diplomats have been advised not to try to interpret or soften the President's remarks but rather to listen and acknowledge the countries' concerns.

The envoys have been instructed to emphasize areas of shared cooperation, which transcend any comments that may have been made by the President, officials said.

'Infuriation, disappointment and outrage'
The African Union, a group representing the continent's countries, and African ambassadors to the United Nations Friday sharply denounced Trump's reference to African nations as "shitholes" and called on him to retract his statement and apologize.

"The African Union Mission wishes to express its infuriation, disappointment and outrage over the unfortunate comment made by Mr. Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, which remarks dishonor the celebrated American creed and respect for diversity and human dignity," the African Union mission to the United States said in a blistering statement.

Condemning the comments "in the strongest terms," the AU demanded "a retraction of the comment as well as an apology, not only to the Africans, but to all people of African descent around the globe."

African UN envoys issued a statement saying their group is "extremely appalled at, and strongly condemns the outrageous, racist and xenophobic remarks attributed to the President of the United States of America."

The envoys released a joint statement Friday after an emergency meeting was held to address the issue.

The group "is concerned at the continuing and growing trend from the US administration towards Africa and people of African descent to denigrate the continent and people of color," it said.

'Sounds like fake news'
Other governments in Africa have also responded angrily.

The government of Botswana said it had summoned the US ambassador to the southern African nation to "express its displeasure" over Trump's reported comments, which it views as "highly irresponsible, reprehensible and racist."

The government said it had also asked the United States to "clarify if Botswana is regarded as a 'shithole' country."

"I am shocked by the words of President Trump on Haiti and Africa," Senegalese President Macky Sall said in an official tweet.

"I reject them and condemn vigorously. Africa and the black race deserve the respect and consideration of all."

A senior official from Somalia, also on the US list of TPS nations, told CNN that Trump's comments were unworthy of a response.

"It sounds like fake news to me," Somali Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman said by phone from Mogadishu. "If it's real, it doesn't need a response. Those comments do not deserve a response."

Newsmakers and ordinary citizens have also reacted on social media.

South Africa's best known morning-news anchor Leanne Manas tweeted Friday: "Good morning from the greatest most beautiful 'shithole country' in the world!!!"

David McKenzie reported from Johannesburg and Susannah Cullinane wrote from Auckland, New Zealand. CNN's Nicole Gaouette, Stephen Collinson, James Griffiths and Laura Smith-Spark also contributed to this report.

The government said it had also asked the United States to "clarify if Botswana is regarded as a 'shithole' country."

"I am shocked by the words of President Trump on Haiti and Africa," Senegalese President Macky Sall said in an official tweet.

"I reject them and condemn vigorously. Africa and the black race deserve the respect and consideration of all."

A senior official from Somalia, also on the US list of TPS nations, told CNN that Trump's comments were unworthy of a response.

"It sounds like fake news to me," Somali Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman said by phone from Mogadishu. "If it's real, it doesn't need a response. Those comments do not deserve a response."

Newsmakers and ordinary citizens have also reacted on social media.

South Africa's best known morning-news anchor Leanne Manas tweeted Friday: "Good morning from the greatest most beautiful 'shithole country' in the world!!!"

David McKenzie reported from Johannesburg and Susannah Cullinane wrote from Auckland, New Zealand. CNN's Nicole Gaouette, Stephen Collinson, James Griffiths and Laura Smith-Spark also contributed to this report.

http://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/15/africa/south-africa-trump-diplomatic-protest/index.html
 

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Reality check: 'Shithole' comments make US global security efforts that much more difficult
By: Jill Aitoro  
20 Jan 2018

The alleged comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump about Haiti, El Salvador and African nations have spurred visceral reactions from many. The general dialogue has focused on the degree of the reported gaffe ― whether it was an outright racist slur or, as one media outlet put it, a “diplomatic blunder.”

I won’t begin to surmise what he was thinking by such statements, if he did indeed say them. It’s worth noting that Trump denied using the exact words being reported by some in the meeting, confirming only that his comments were “tough.”

But I do wonder about potential fallout of what can at least be described as disparaging remarks. Little has been made about implications beyond calls from some African nations for explanation from U.S. diplomats, and clever tourism campaigns from Namibia and Zambia, to name a couple.

Let me say first, I’m not sounding alarm bells of a global security issue as a direct result of unfortunate, culturally insensitive comments. But such comments ― particularly when combined with other comments that came before and America First rhetoric ― can gradually transform the world’s view of the United States. For our near-peer nations, that’s unproductive. But for the more vulnerable regions of the world, that can be dangerous.

State Department Secretary Rex Tillerson pointed to counterterrorism as the greatest concern for African nations. But that just might be putting it mildly. Antonia Ward, of the think tank Rand Europe, wrote in the National Interest that Africa could provide an “ISIS renaissance.” Civil unrest, government corruption and economic hardship leave the region vulnerable. Also noted by Ward, increased internet access provides a means for Islamic State propaganda and recruitment. We’ve already seen attacks in Somalia, Burkina Faso and Niger, but all of the variables are there for the situation to get far worse.

So what does this have to do with a “diplomatic blunder” from our president? Combating terrorism in Africa requires partnership with the West. That means acknowledgment by the U.S. that the threat exists in the first place ― acknowledgment we’ve seen from the administration ― but also a trust and respect from the targeted countries. Rhetoric that conveys a sense of superiority and even disdain has the very real potential to nudge those vulnerable nations to look elsewhere. As could slighting one of what Ward described as the “most robust African counter-terrorism partnerships” by placing a travel ban on people from Chad.

For decades, the United States was deemed a global protector for many, whether through troop presence or response to insurgency or brutal dictatorships. Some might argue that the reliance extended beyond what most would find reasonable. But that reputation did spur a degree of respect among countries. And that respect translated to influence in how threats might be addressed. Countries facing turmoil often look to the U.S. first. There’s value in having a say.

Like I said, for our peer or near-peer nations, thoughtless commentary might spur frustration and political tensions and perhaps even breakdown in certain cooperation. But when the most vulnerable are alienated, or feel a sense of neglect, they just might look elsewhere for a sense of stability. We’ve seen it before, and it didn’t end well.

https://www.defensenews.com/opinion...19.18&utm_term=Editorial - Daily News Roundup
 
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