US President Donald Trump asks why people from ‘shithole countries’ come to US

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting on prison reform in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, January 11, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

Using the most condescending and undiplomatic language imaginable, US President Donald Trump has reportedly asked why “people from shithole countries come to” the United States.

Trump made the contemptuous comments about immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and African countries during a White House meeting on Thursday with lawmakers who were reportedly startled and charged that the Republican president is racist, according to multiple people briefed on the meeting.  

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said, according to The Washington Post.

"Why do we need more Haitians?" he added, according to the report. "Take them out."

Trump reportedly suggested America should accept more immigrants from European countries such as Norway, whose Prime Minister Erna Solberg met with Trump on Wednesday in the White House.

Later on, The New York Times also reported the same comment, citing unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the extraordinary Oval Office conversation.

Trump’s comments surprised Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin and Republican Representative Bob Goodlatte, who attended the meeting, according to the Post.

The White House did not deny Trump's despicable description of an entire continent but said the president supports an immigration policy that welcomes "those who can contribute to our society.”

“Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said while commenting on Trump’s racist slur.

“The president will only accept an immigration deal that adequately addresses the visa lottery system and chain migration — two programs that hurt our economy and allow terrorists into our country," the spokesman said.

"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. He will always reject temporary, weak and dangerous stopgap measures that threaten the lives of hardworking Americans and undercut immigrants who seek a better life in the United States through a legal pathway.”

‘Trump’s comments go beyond the pale’

Commenting on Trump’s remarks, American political analyst and academic Dennis Etler said, “The president of the United States can no longer be considered by anyone of conscience as a paragon of ‘democratic values,’ as if he ever could. Not that any recent president has been, but Trump’s comments have gone beyond the pale.”

“The Statue of Liberty has emblazoned on its base the immortal words of Emma Lazarus, ‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’” Etler, who has a decades-long interest in international affairs, told Press TV on Friday morning.   

“It doesn’t say, ‘Go home you tired, you poor Aids infected filthy masses yearning to rape and murder. We don’t want the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed back to their shithole countries. I extinguish my lamp and slam shut the golden door!’” the scholar stated.