I have a column up at The American Spectator this morning which is trending at Real Clear Politics having to do with this kerfuffle over President Trump’s supposed use of “shithole countries” to describe places like Haiti, El Salvador, Somalia and Afghanistan where disproportionate numbers of immigrants are coming at present due to current federal policy.
The Amazon Post broke that story yesterday, in what wasn’t exactly the most journalistically sound fashion and in a way which maximized its clickbait value…
The Post article isn’t exactly the finest example of American journalism, identifying as its source no one actually in the room to confirm what Trump supposedly said but instead naming two anonymous people who were “briefed on the meeting.”
Those anonymous second-hand sources claimed that the offending statement came amid a discussion over a proposal to eliminate the diversity visa lottery program and use the 50,000 visas per year tied up in it to offer protection to “vulnerable populations” living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status. Trump became irritated at this, according to the Post, and asked about Haitians, and when the conversation turned to Africa Trump supposedly said, “Why are we having all these people from s***hole countries come here?” and suggested that maybe instead America should be taking in more people from Norway — whose prime minister visited the White House the day before.
The White House didn’t really deny the Post story despite its rather sketchy sourcing. White House spokesman Raj Shah instead defended Trump’s policy position, saying in a statement that “Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people.… Like other nations that have merit-based immigration, President Trump is fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation.”
It turns out, though, that Trump does deny calling the countries in question “shitholes”…
The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made – a big setback for DACA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said “take them out.” Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings – unfortunately, no trust!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
Then Trump went further, giving an insight to what he thinks actually happened in that meeting…
The Democrats seem intent on having people and drugs pour into our country from the Southern Border, risking thousands of lives in the process. It is my duty to protect the lives and safety of all Americans. We must build a Great Wall, think Merit and end Lottery & Chain. USA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
The so-called bipartisan DACA deal presented yesterday to myself and a group of Republican Senators and Congressmen was a big step backwards. Wall was not properly funded, Chain & Lottery were made worse and USA would be forced to take large numbers of people from high crime…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
….countries which are doing badly. I want a merit based system of immigration and people who will help take our country to the next level. I want safety and security for our people. I want to stop the massive inflow of drugs. I want to fund our military, not do a Dem defund….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
….Because of the Democrats not being interested in life and safety, DACA has now taken a big step backwards. The Dems will threaten “shutdown,” but what they are really doing is shutting down our military, at a time we need it most. Get smart, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
So there it is.
My column noted that while it’s certainly indelicate and doesn’t particularly adhere to the diplomat’s handbook to call other countries “shitholes,” that’s hardly an inaccurate characterization of Haiti, El Salvador, Somalia and Afghanistan – all of which are highly dysfunctional societies despite, one might note, repeated American attempts to help.
Sure, ideally it would be nice if the president wasn’t quoted as describing other countries as s***holes. But these are s***holes. They’re places where the local culture is unquestionably, horribly dysfunctional, and where civil society and the rule of law as we know them do not exist. Successful immigration from such places depends on assimilation into our culture, and most definitely not the importation of their inferior culture — and that means small numbers of immigrants with skills and qualities ensuring their positive participation in our society. Not mass willy-nilly immigration to turn swaths of our cities into breeding grounds for Al Shabaab or MS-13.
The open-borders crowd doesn’t want to talk about that, though, and it wants to call you racist if you’re opposed to a deluge of immigrants from the worst places on earth. That’s why Trump’s “s***holes” objection is big news rather than the fact there are so-called political leaders who can’t agree to reorient our immigration policy toward taking people who can successfully assimilate here.
Between the two, the crude man who tells the truth and looks out for his own citizens is preferable to the genteel man who sells us out for cheap labor or ballot-box fuel for a political machine. If Trump is the former, so be it.
But the real story going on right under everyone’s nose, as Trump’s tweets this morning indicate, is the looming government shutdown.
Properly understood, what’s about to happen is the Democrats will force a government shutdown over their demand that America absorb illegal aliens from all the countries Trump (allegedly) and most other Americans (assuredly) would consider as shitholes, and their further demand this policy be instituted unconditionally – as in, with no concessions whatever given to the other side of the immigration debate, as in steps taken to reorient immigration policy toward a merit-based system, the building of a wall along the southern border and other steps to control the flow of illegals into the country or an end to chain migration that current DACA policy promotes.
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They want to have their cake and eat it, too, and unless they’re given all of their demands they’re going to shut the government down.
This is a quite risky political move. The public doesn’t like government shutdowns, a fact the Republican leadership was terrified of when Barack Obama was president and these shutdown fights occasionally popped up, and there is little reason to believe Americans will respond well to a shutdown precipitated over demands that illegal Salvadorans or Somalis be allowed to stay indefinitely. So that certainly can’t be in the news.
But what can be in the news is that Donald Trump hates brown and black people and doesn’t want them in the country. So if Trump expresses sentiments favoring immigrants from more assimilable countries like Norway to those from Afghanistan or Mali, and does so in a private meeting where candid speech is supposed to be taken in the closed-door fashion with which it’s intended, regardless of whether he used the term “shithole” or not, then by all means Dick Durbin will leak that to the Amazon Post and create a diversion.
That’s all this is. Perhaps the best quote on this entire issue came from a statement given by Louisiana congressman Ralph Abraham this morning, who said…
“It seems to me the only people claiming the President used that language are the Democrats, who seem more willing to fight for blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants than they are for American border security. Almost on cue there’s a controversy in the media to distract from what Republicans want to accomplish – securing our border, ending chain migration and the lottery system, and providing a reasonable pathway for DACA recipients to earn their citizenship the right way. Meanwhile, the Democrats refuse to make any concessions in these talks and would shut the government down and risk critical funding for our military unless they get amnesty for illegal immigrants. That’s an irresponsible and dangerous way to govern. Republicans can’t let the tail wag the dog here; we must stand firm on this issue.”
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