Racism by any other name still smells like s**t

Donald Trump’s alleged statement that he was tired of people coming to America from Haiti and ‘shithole’ countries in Africa ignited a storm of controversy, and caused his apologists to pull out all the stops to refute the claims.  Trump has been accused by many of his critics of racism, while those in his camp vehemently deny this accusation. I might be misreading the whole thing, but the racism charge seems to be based mainly on his alleged use of the term ‘shithole’ to describe countries in Africa, along with his preference for people from Norway.

While Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) maintains that this was what Trump said, Senator David Perdue (R-GA), after initially saying that he didn’t ‘recall’ the president using such a term, later came out and told George Stephanopoulos of ABC’s “This Week” that he ‘did not use that word.’ Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) said he didn’t hear Trump say ‘that word.’ Kirstjen Nielsen, Homeland Security Secretary, who was also in the meeting, told Fox News that she didn’t recall Trump saying ‘that exact phrase,’ but conceded that the conversation about immigration was ‘impassioned.’

Now, we can rant and rave forever about whether or not Trump called African countries ‘shithole’ countries, but I’d like to point out something that everyone seems to be ignoring. None of the Trump apologists have denied that he expressed displeasure at immigrants coming from Haiti and African countries, and would prefer Norwegians. Maybe they were so busy trying to make him sound less crass and vulgar, they overlooked it, or maybe he said it, only without calling the countries in question ‘shitholes.’ So, dear friends, whether or not he used that exact term is irrelevant. If he said he was frustrated with immigrants from Haiti and African countries, and would prefer lily white immigrants from Scandinavia, whether it was intentional or conscious or not, it was racist—just without the scatological term. The fact that he was expressing a feeling shared by many of those who support and voted for him is also beside the point.

I’m sure there will be someone who will immediately come up with a scenario where he ‘never mentioned Haiti or African countries.’ After all, in this administration, truth is often replaced by alternate facts, and if the man behind the desk at 1600 Pennsylvania disagrees with it, it’s ‘fake news.’

So, let the fun begin.