President Trump, behind closed doors, let it be known today how he views some countries on the African continent and Haiti, according to people familiar with his remarks in a White House meeting on immigration. “Shithole countries” was the label applied to those nations by the president of the United States.
There you have it: no way to pretty up Trump’s racial prejudice; no slip of the tongue; no “he was thinking about something else” excuse. He said what he meant. It is how the president regards sovereign nations of a darkened hue.
They are, in his lights, shabby, dirty, basket cases, not worth the world’s time or respect — or at least Donald Trump’s. The president expressed a desire for more Norwegians on the immigration rolls.
The Trump message? If you are white, you’re all right; if you are brown (Hispanic) turn around; if you are black, git back.
His paid toadies will smile and revert their gaze, recognizing the ignorance and racial hatred that fuels who their boss is.
But the record must not close with his stupidity.
I have not been to Haiti. But I have spent time in Liberia, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Tanzania: They are developing countries, striving to overcome the vestiges of an imperialism that should have the West, including the United States, hanging its head in shame.
But it won’t happen, because bigoted people in power, like Trump, have license to libel and consign the powerless to the trash — unless, that is, Americans or others around the world with a strain of decency and love for human values raise their voices.