The world is still reeling over last week’s reports that the president used an obscenity to refer to countries including El Salvador, Haiti, and some African nations.
The day after the initial reports, Trump finally got around to a halfhearted denial, saying that he’d used “tough” language but not that which had been reported by the media.
Eventually, it came out that the going line from the White House wasn’t that the president hadn’t uttered any racist obscenity at all; rather, the administration’s defense was reportedly that Trump had said “shithouse” and not “shithole” as reported. That contention from the White House was reportedly what explains the difference between accounts offered by Republican and Democratic attendees of the meeting where Trump uttered the reported obscenity.
Yes, really.
Now, the president has again responded to the reports about what he said during a White House meeting last week; this time, however, he was pressed about the components to his reported remarks other than just the obscenity.
Besides referring to El Salvador, Haiti, and African nations as “shithole countries,” Trump also reportedly told those present at last week’s meeting that he thinks the U.S. should take in more immigrants from places like Norway.
On Tuesday, a reporter asked him about this, posing the question:
‘Did you say that you wanted more people to come in from Norway?’
Trump responded by saying:
‘I want them to come in from everywhere, everywhere.’
Following this exchange, the reporter pressed Trump about the meaning of “everywhere,” but Trump pointed and said “Out,” demanding that that reporter and the other ones in the room leave.
Trump had offered brief remarks alongside Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev before this exchange took place.
Check out video of the exchange below.
Reporter: “Did you say that you wanted more people to come in from Norway?”
President Trump: “I want them to come in from everywhere, everywhere.” pic.twitter.com/ImczjH0HLL
— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 16, 2018
Last week, the day before Trump reportedly said that we should take in more immigrants from places like Norway and fewer from “shithole” countries, Trump had actually met with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg.
Trump, as mentioned, has denied using the exact reported phrase — “shithole countries” — to refer to the nations in question.
The incident prompting his remarks was the presentation of an immigration policy reform plan favoring immigrants from those countries by Senators Lindsay Graham and Richard Durbin.
Durbin has been the most vocal in asserting that the press reports about the president’s language are accurate.
During a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Graham decried the level to which the national conversation about immigration had sunk, saying that in the face of controversy about the president’s remarks and a refusal of White House officials to own up to any racism on the part of their boss, the whole thing had turned into a “s show,” saying that “we need to get back to being a great country.”
Sen. Graham: “This has turned into an s-show, and we need to get back to being a great country.” pic.twitter.com/tLrMpjLl9k
— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 16, 2018
The catalyst for all of this — the Thursday meeting and the continuing attention paid to immigration policy — is the Trump administration’s announcement that it would be ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program, which protects undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
Featured Image via Screenshot from the Video
