During a meeting with a bipartisan group of senators at the White House discussing immigration in general, and DACA in particular, President Donald Trump referred to El Salvador, Haiti and the entire continent of Africa as “shithole countries.” Trump followed that pearl of wisdom by suggesting that he`d rather see immigrants from countries like Norway.
Republican Sens. Tom Cotton, David Perdue and Lindsey Graham, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin and Republican Reps. Bob Goodlatte, Kevin McCarthy and Mario Diaz-Balart were at the meeting.
Oh to be a fly on the wall! How did these illustrious politicians react when Trump made those obscene and blatantly racist statements? I would have immediately called out the president for his inflammatory and bigoted remarks. Unless someone surreptitiously recorded the meeting we may never know, but we do know that not one of these statesmen has publicly repudiated Trump since the infamous meeting.
The silence has been deafening from the likes of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell; are they banking on the notion that America has become inured to the fact that out shithole president is a racist?
We must never accept the fact that Trump is a racist, we most condemn him every time he makes a racist comment. Trump`s racist remarks lead to racist policies which leads to violence against people of color.
Politicians must follow the example of Rep. Mia Love, a Utah Republican whose parents came to America from Haiti who issued the following statement:
This behavior is unacceptable from the leader of our nation. The President must apologize to both the American people and the nations he so wantonly maligned.
My parents came from the shithole countries of Mexico and Venezuela, and they instilled in me a strong work ethic, a desire to educate myself, and a passion to speak out against racism. As a columnist for a local print publication, and as a blogger I will condemn Trump every time he utters a racist comment.
Follow Robert Paul Reyes on Twitter: http://twitter.com/robertpaulreyes