PresidentDonald Trumpadmitted Tuesday that he used the slur "shithole countries" todisparage Haiti and African nationsduring a 2018 meeting with lawmakers, bragging about a comment that sparked global outrage during his first term.
Back then, Trumphad deniedmaking the contemptuous statement during a closed-door meeting, but on Tuesday, he showed little compunction reliving it during arally in Pennsylvania. He went on to further disparage Somalia as "filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime."
Trump was boasting in his speech that he had last week "announced apermanent pause on Third World migration, including from hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries," when someone in the crowd yelled out the 2018 remark.
That prompted him to recall the2018 incident. His telling hewed closely to thedescription offered at the timeby people who were briefed on the Oval Office meeting.
"We had a meeting and I said, 'Why is it we only take people from shithole countries,' right? 'Why can't we have some people from Norway, Sweden?'" Trump told rallygoers.
"But we always take people from Somalia," he continued. "Places that are a disaster. Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime."
The White House at the time did not deny Trump's remarks, but the presidentposted on Twitterthe day after the news broke that "this was not the language I used." He added that he"never said anything derogatory about Haitians."
Back in 2018, Trump's comments denigrating predominantly Black nations while seeking more migration from predominantly white countries were widely denounced as racist. Some congressional Republicanscondemned the comments, andforeign leaders were outraged. Botswana's government summoned the U.S. ambassador, and Senegal's President Macky Sall said he was shocked, noting, "Africa and the Black race merit the respect and consideration of all."
But since then, Trump has pushed past many norms and traditions of decorum that had guided his predecessors, both in his first term and in the years since. He often peppers his public remarks with curse words, and this year hasdropped the F-bombas cameras were rolling — on two separate occasions.
On Thanksgiving, in apair of lengthy postson social media complaining about immigrants, he demeaned Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, using a dated slur for intellectually disabled people. Asked by a reporter if he stood by a comment that many Americans find offensive, Trump was unrepentant. "Yeah. I think there's something wrong with him," he said.