If you are arguing about whether or not Forty-Five actually used the term shit hole[1], or whether or not said countries (due to their standard of living, or natural disasters, or corrupt governments, or what not) actually are shit holes, then you have missed the point.
Really, if you hear the words “Trump” and “shit hole,” this is what you think, right?
Whether or not Forty-Five said Country X was a “shit hole” or just “demonstrably poor” is missing the forest for the trees. It’s that Forty-Five lamented, in front of congresscritters, that immigrants from such countries were undesirable, especially when compared to the porcelain white immigrants we could get from Norway.
Take this statement and contextualize it with Forty-Five’s earlier statements (this month!) that we should stop taking Haitian refugees because they “all have AIDS” and African refugees because they would “never go back to their huts”…
Contextualize it with Forty-Five’s impotent, week-old condemnation of the Charlottesville white nationalists (condemnation, incidentally, that he almost immediately backed away from)…
Contextualize it with Forty-Five’s appointments to positions of power of noted racists such as Steve “I built a machine at Brietbart” Bannon, Jeff “I was once too racist for Republicans” Sessions, Steve “Foreclosure King” Mnuchin, etc…
Contextualize it with Forty-Five’s various failed attempts at banning Muslims or his pledge to wall off Mexico…
Contextualize it with Forty-Five’s announcing his candidacy in part because (almost) all Mexican immigrants were criminals, drug dealers, or rapists…
Contextualize it with Forty-Five’s pre-presidential run-ins with the Justice Department over housing discrimination against blacks…
When his “shit hole” comment is contextualized with his history, it is a simple, clear, and ringing statement of straight-up racism by the President of the United States.
That’s the point.
Period.
[1] Although let’s face it, Trump totally called those countries shit holes.
The WP and AP had independent confirmations. Democratic congressmen in attendance confirmed it. The White House and Sarah Huckleberry Sanders conspicuously did NOT deny it in their statements, even acknowledging “tough language”.
The only person who denied it[2] was Trump… and then only 15 hours after the event (including the White House non-denial)… and then only when Fox and Friends mentioned he ought to deny it.
And if you haven’t figured out after the first 358 days of the Trump Presidency that the dude lies like a rug, well then you must be, like, a very stable genius.
The opposite of a tautology.
[2] Actually, I just saw that Tom Cotton is also denying the “shit hole” statement, but that dude was the ringleader of the 47 Traitors, so his word is worth less than the paper it’s written on.
