There is not much more to say than what the president said himself.
Though President Donald Trump denies he denigrated Haitian, Salvadoran and African immigrants, his comments last week are not revelatory. He referred to their countries of origin as — sorry, there is no sugarcoating it— shitholes.
Haitians all have AIDS, Nigerians won’t go back to their huts; Mexicans are rapists — all things he’s said. Trump has impugned the integrity of an American-born judge with Mexican heritage, saying he should not decide an unrelated case because of Trump’s proposed wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
Our president is a racist. He demonstrated that during the campaign, and he has acted only to confirm it in the year since his inauguration.
Trump is anathema to time-honored American values that foster a melting pot of cultures, skills and religions, that welcome refugees. He ignores the triumphs of immigrants who came from these countries.
He all but eschews the stated American values articulated in the nation’s earliest document, the Declaration of Independence, the justification for the American Revolution:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Yet, our billionaire president, born into wealth, wonders aloud: “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” according to a Washington Post report citing two sources briefed on the meeting.
Yet another anecdote that reveals the president’s nature should prompt a similar question among all Americans and especially those who have supported him. Does this president reflect American values?