It’s hard to Imagine anything more vile and racist than Trump’s “shithole countries” remark. It’s also hard to imagine the president of the United States as anything less than a phony. This is the man who said at a bipartisan meeting on immigration policies:
"I think my positions are going to be what the people in this room come up with. I am very much reliant on the people in this room. I know most of the people on both sides. I have a lot of respect for the people on both sides.
"And … what I approve is going to be very much reliant on what the people in this room come to me with. I have great confidence in the people. If they come to me with things that I’m not in love with, I’m going to do it because I respect them.”
Does anyone think someone at the meeting proposed excluding immigrants from “shithole countries?” Does anyone think the reason for the meeting was anything other than to defend Trump’s reputation after the publication of Michael Wolff's book? (It was more than naive for Democrats to attend a televised meeting with this man; it was foolhardy. But that’s an issue for another time.)
We remember the “pussy-grabbing” remark; we’ve read about the “shithole countries." How about a third leg of the triangle? Speaking at a town hall meeting Wednesday, Chuck Jones, the former president of United Steelworkers 1999, said a few things that were reported in the HuffPost Thursday about the jobs Trump claimed to save at the Carrier Corporation, a heating and air-conditioning company in Indiana.
This is a president who lives in a make-believe world, a president who can say in a Twitter post, “I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians,” and can say it one day after the “shithole” remark was reported.
And finally, there is this. We’re sometimes uncomfortable seeing the word “shit” (and particularly when it’s used to describe “shithole countries"). But maybe it’s just a matter of context. How many people would blanche, for example, at reading about the “shitshow” that currently passes for leadership at the White House?