January 12th, 2017 - January 12th, 2017. 424-424 days since the Nov 8, 2016, election of some rich asshole, no.45, and 354-354 days since the Jan 20th inauguration.
GOPer - let's not judge no45 on the things he says.
New GOP Senate candidate defends the rich asshole’s racism: ‘Let’s not judge the president on what he says’
Hot takes right out of the gate from Rep. Jim Renacci in Ohio.
Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH) is off to a strong start in the Ohio Senate race, arguing on Fox Friday morning that we should not judge President the rich asshole on “what he says.”
Asked about the rich asshole’s “shithole countries” comment — about accepting immigrants from majority-black countries — Renacci said, “Well, look, I’ve said all along, the president many times says what people are thinking.”
Renacci went on, saying that “as a business guy,” he’s learned you have to be careful what you say “because people pick everything up.” But, Renacci said, that the rich asshole hasn’t learned that lesson is what makes the rich asshole great.
“It’s difficult, and I know it’s difficult for the president, because many times you want to say what you’re thinking,” the congressman said, as the Fox News host murmured continual agreement. “But in the end, I know a lot of times he’s saying what people are thinking.”
Renacci capped his defense of the president’s racist remarks saying, “Look, I always say judge the president after four years. Let’s judge the president after what we’ve done. Let’s not judge the president on what he says.”
Renacci’s defense of the president comes just one day after he announced he would be running for Senate at the president’s urging Thursday. The congressman was running for governor but left the race after Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel abruptly dropped out of the Republican Senate primary last week, leaving the party scrambling to find a viable candidate in the competitive state.
“As soon as the president got on board, the [National Republican Senatorial Committee], the [Republican National Committee], they all wanted me to get on board,” Renacci told cleveland.com Thursday. “They all wanted me to come on board. But really being asked by the president was the reason to get in this race.”
And Renacci has vowed that, if elected, he will defend the rich asshole’s agenda at all costs.
“While my strong distaste for Washington and the political establishment is as fervent as ever, so too is my commitment to advancing the President’s agenda for a stronger and more prosperous America,” Renacci said Thursday when he announced his candidacy. “And for that reason, I’ve agreed to answer the call to service and enter the race for United States Senate.”
Renacci isn’t the only Senate hopeful running as a rich asshole acolyte. Earlier this week in Arizona, disgraced former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who ran a jail he described as a “concentration camp,” where he tortured hundreds of immigrants and minorities, has jumped into the race to replace Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who is retiring.
“I have a lot to offer. I’m a big supporter of President the rich asshole,” Arpaio told The Washington Examiner when he announced his candidacy. “I’m going to have to work hard; you don’t take anything for granted. But I would not being doing this if I thought that I could not win. I’m not here to get my name in the paper, I get that everyday , anyway… I just want to do everything I can to support our president.”
The strategy — for both Arpaio and Renacci — is a questionable one. the rich asshole’s approval rating has been hovering around 39 percent nationally, and the most recent numbers out of Ohio have the rich asshole sitting around a 54 percent disapproval rate. The president’s popularity has also dipped in most red states.
There are other signs of a coming Democratic wave on the horizon, too. As of Wednesday, a record 30 House Republicans have announced they will be retiring ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, including both Reps. Ed Royce (R-CA) and Darrell Issa (R-CA), both seats that could be vital in Democrat’s efforts to take back the House.
Fox News is in denial about the rich
WATCH: ‘Pissed-off’ Ana Navarro goes nuclear on ‘buffoon’ the rich asshole apologist over ‘sh*thole’ remarks
Ana Navarro, John Berman, Jason Miller -- CNN screencap
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Republican strategist Ana Navarro went absolutely nuclear on the rich asshole supporter Jason Miller’s defense of the president’s declaration that he didn’t want to let people from “sh*thole” countries like Haiti into the United States.
During the panel, Navarro — who started the panel by admitting she is “pissed off” at the moment — said President some rich asshole needs to understand that a lot of people who have made the United States great have come from poor countries to build better lives for themselves.
“This country is great and the reason people want to come here is because this country has been built decade after decade from the very start by people fleeing political persecution, by people fleeing ‘sh*tholes,'” she said. “They came from ‘sh*tholes’ in Africa, and they were shackled to the bowels of ships, and whipped and beaten and auctioned like property. A lot of them are buried in Arlington. Maybe when he was busy dodging the draft to Vietnam, instead of talking about shitholes and being a public, shameless racist, he should take a walk outside the White House and see the names imprinted on the wall and see how many people come from ‘shitholes.'”
Miller insisted that there was nothing racist about the president’s remarks, despite the fact that he said he’d rather let more people from majority-white Norway into the country than from countries whose majorities are people of color. Instead, he claimed that the president was simply trying to get a fair deal done to reform our country’s immigration system.
“He will get a deal done on DACA,” said Miller. “He is trying to get comprehensive immigration reform done in a way that Obama and Bush couldn’t.”
Navarro grew utterly exasperated at Miller’s defenses of the rich asshole and let him have it.
“You look like a buffoon trying to make sense of what this man is saying!” she said. “This is some rich asshole being a racist. I don’t care what you say.”
Watch the video below.
Fox News is in denial about the rich asshole’s ‘s **thole’ comment
Host Sandra Smith went to painstaking lengths to cast doubt on her own network's reporting.
Shortly after 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Fox News host Sandra Smith noted that her network “has confirmed” that President the rich asshole indeed called African countries “shitholes” during a meeting with lawmakers on Thursday.
“President the rich asshole lamented ‘s—hole countries’ during immigration negotiations on Thursday with lawmakers in the Oval Office, Fox News has confirmed,” a story on the network’s website reads.
That put President the rich asshole’s favorite network at odds with the word of the president. Earlier Friday, the rich asshole personally denied reports he used racist language — a claim that was quickly refuted by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who was in the room for the meeting, witnessed the rich asshole’s remarks, and told reporters on Friday that the rich asshole’s denial is “not true.”
Over the course of the next hour, Smith gradually walked back her own network’s confirmation. A few minutes after 10 a.m., she went out of her way to portray the whole thing as a he-said, she-said situation.
“I’ll remind everybody that the president says he did not use that language, Dick Durbin was in the room and says that he did,” she said.
And then, about 10 minutes later, Smith characterized the situation as a mere “language dispute.”
“And then we come to the end of this week, and we have this language dispute — did the president say it, did he not say it?” she said.
the rich asshole’s belated decision to weakly deny reports he made racist comments appeared to be inspired by the Fox News show that airs immediately before Smith’s — Fox & Friends, a program that the rich asshole has gotten in the habit of live-tweeting just about every day.
During Friday’s edition of the program, host Brian Kilmeade made the unusual decision to criticize the rich asshole, saying with regard to the “shithole” comment that president “made a mistake” and should “walk it back.” And just over 20 minutes later, the rich asshole tried to do just that, posting a tweet in which he said that while the language he used at the meeting with lawmakers was “tough,” the racist comment widely attributed to him “was not the language used.”
Not only is the rich asshole’s tweet contradicted by Fox News’ reporting and by Durbin, but it’s also been contradicted by his own staff. On Thursday, the White House issued a statement that didn’t deny that the rich asshole had called African countries “shitholes,” but said, “Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President the rich asshole will always fight for the American people.”
Then on Friday, CNN reported that the rich asshole spent Thursday night “phoning allies and friends, asking them how they thought the ‘shithole’ remark was playing out in the press,” in what one White House official referred to as a “victory lap.” That report came on the heels of others indicating the rich asshole administration staffers were optimistic the president’s comments would “resonate with his base.”
But like Smith, White House staffers spent Friday morning trying to walk that back. Smith’s show on Friday featured an interview with the rich asshole administration spokesperson Mercedes Schlapp in which she tried to dodge questions about the disconnect between the White House’s initial statement about the rich asshole’s comment and the president’s subsequent denial.
“There’s been selective leaks, there’s been inaccurate reporting on this,” Schlapp said, declining to delve into details. “I was not in that meeting, but what I can tell you is that [the rich asshole] made it very clear that that language was not used, and it’s very clear that this is the Democrats trying to derail this process.”
Another adult film actress claims Stormy Daniels and the rich asshole invited her to their hotel room: report
Porn actress Alana Evans (left, via Wikimedia Commons) and some rich asshole with fellow actress Stormy Daniels (right, via Daniels' Myspace).
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Adult actress Alana Evans claims porn star Stormy Daniels and some rich asshole invited her to their hotel room in a report that offered further corroboration of the Wall Street Journal‘s account earlier on Friday.
As The Daily Beast reported, Evans, a friend of Daniels’, said she received multiple calls from the fellow actress while she was in a room with the rich asshole.
“Stormy calls me four or five times, by the last two phone calls she’s with Donald [the rich asshole] and I can hear him, and he’s talking through the phone to me saying, ‘Oh come on Alana, let’s have some fun! Let’s have some fun! Come to the party, we’re waiting for you,'” Evans told the Beast.
She ultimately turned down the offer, but learned more about Daniels’ encounter with the real estate mogul the next day.
“She tells me, ‘All I’m going to say is: I ended up with Donald in his hotel room. Picture him chasing me around his hotel room in his tighty-whities.’ I was like, ‘Oh I really didn’t need to hear that!’ Then she said he offered her keys to his condos in Florida, and I was like, ‘Wow guess you had a good night,’ and that was the last we ever spoke of it,” Evans said.
The Beast also reported that they had been in “protracted” talks with Daniels to publish her story before the presidential election, but she ended up backing out on November 3, 2016.
In a statement provided by the rich asshole’s lawyer Michael Cohen, who the Journal reported paid off Daniels (née Stephanie Clifford) $130,000 to keep her from going public about her relationship with the president, the adult actress denied that they’d ever had any romantic or sexual involvement.
the rich asshole lawyer shelled out $130,000 to adult film star in 2016 to keep her quiet about alleged affair: report
President some rich asshole and adult actress Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name was Stormy Daniels, in a 2006 Myspace photo.
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One of President some rich asshole’s lawyers allegedly paid an adult film star a settlement to keep her from going public with an affair she had with the real estate mogul the year after he married Melania the rich asshole.
As the Wall Street Journal reported, the rich asshole’s longtime attorney Michael Cohen paid actress Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name was Stormy Daniels, a sum of $130,000 in October 2016.
According to the report, Clifford “privately alleged the encounter with some rich asshole took place after they met at a July 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe,” sources confirmed to the Journal.
Cohen and the White House denied both the affair and the settlement.
“These are old, recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied prior to the election,” the White House told the Journal in a statement.
Cohen said in a response to the newspaper that “President the rich asshole once again vehemently denies any such occurrence as has Ms. Daniels.”
“This is now the second time that you are raising outlandish allegations against my client,” Cohen continued. “You have attempted to perpetuate this false narrative for over a year; a narrative that has been consistently denied by all parties since at least 2011.”
The president’s lawyer also attached a statement signed by “Stormy Daniels” that said the actress did not have a “sexual and/or romantic affair” with the rich asshole.
“Rumors that I have received hush money from some rich asshole are completely false,” Cohen and Clifford’s statement read.
Ex-GOP Rep rips ‘racist’ the rich asshole and his defenders: He’s consistently ‘expressed an ideology’ where rich, white people are better
Former GOP Rep. David Jolly
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Former GOP Rep. David Jolly on Friday tore into some rich asshole and his defenders, calling the president’s “sh*thole” remarks “racist” and arguing he’s consistently “expressed an ideology” where white people are valued more than people of color.
“Let’s be honest, this is an embarrassing day to be a Republican,” Jolly told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin. “And for rational Republicans, you should be angry today. I believe the president’s comments, if they were made, were racist.”
“Even if you do not, if you are a defender of some rich asshole, here’s the important thing,” Jolly continued. “We know our president, through word and deed over the past two years, has certainly expressed an ideology based upon a certain social hierarchy, a construct, where white people of European decent , particularly those of wealth, have a different place in society than poor people of color.”
Jolly explained what’s even more insidious than the rich asshole’s rampant racism is the fact that “this is someone directing the policy of the United States” and “crafting legislation with the Hill that will effect millions of lives, particularly poor people of color.”
“As a Republican party, we went from a leader in Bush 43 who challenged, challenged the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations,’ to a president in some rich asshole who pedals the hard bigotry of no expectations for people of color,” Jolly declared.
CNN commentator Marc Lamont Hill told Baldwin the rich asshole may be “fully aware of the hurt that he’s causing and simply indifferent to the suffering of of
Lamont called the comments “entirely consistent with everything else he’s done.”
Baldwin noted the rich asshole’s outbursts seem to follow a pattern where the president “says something insane” and watch as Republican party leaders refuse to condemn his remarks.
“That is some rich asshole’s GOP,” Jolly argued. “This is the hijacking he has done to the Republican party.”
“What some rich asshole is doing is using the office of the presidency to give permission for Americans to listen to the lesser angels among us,” he added. “No president has done that before.”
Lamont Hill then explained that the rich asshole’s supporters, the people who voted for him, knew what they were signing up for.
“The truth is if you voted for some rich asshole you either voted for him because you agreed with the racist statements that he made consistently throughout the campaign, or you were indifferent to it,” Lamont Hill said.
“So either way you are complicit in the racism we’re seeing prevail right now,” he added.
Watch below, via CNN:
the rich asshole’s pipeline agenda just went through a disastrous week
Pipeline opponents gain confidence with victory in New York.
This week was the worst in recent memory for developers of energy pipelines.
When President some rich asshole became president, the conventional wisdom was that all barriers to the construction of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids pipeline would come crumbling down. As soon as he took office almost a year ago, the rich asshole signed executive memoranda allowing two controversial oil pipelines — Keystone XL and Dakota Access — to move forward.
But since those promising early days for pipeline developers in the age of the rich asshole, the victories for the industry have not been as clear-cut.
Over the past week, in particular, federal and state regulators and environmental groups have taken actions that are generating a rare dose of optimism among residents who view many of the nation’s proposed pipelines as unnecessary and environmentally harmful. Regulators and environmentalists are making it harder for pipeline projects to get rubber-stamped in states like New York, North Carolina, and Louisiana.
New York
On Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) dealt a major blow to the Constitution Pipeline when it rejected the pipeline builder’s petition for a declaratory order. The federal agency’s denial of the company’s petition reaffirmed states’ rights to review the impacts of these projects on their water.
While FERC is the federal body charged with regulating interstate gas pipelines, the Clean Water Act gives individual states the authority to reject projects that would degrade their water quality. New York had exercised that authority when it rejected the pipeline in September 2016. But Constitution Pipeline challenged that decision, saying the DEC failed to act in a reasonable amount of time. Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, and its partners intervened to oppose Constitution’s argument that New York had waived its Clean Water Act authority.
FERC’s decision to support New York surprised observers who thought the commission would use its federal powers to overrule the state’s decision, as it did last September in a separate natural gas pipeline case. But the make-up of the commission has changed. In September, FERC was only a three-member commission, with two hard-line pipeline-supporting Republicans and one Democrat. This time around, FERC had its full complement of commissioners — three Republicans and two Democrats — who ultimately ruled in a unanimous decision that they were wary of undercutting states’ rights and saw no reason to break with the same legal standards used for the last 30 years.
“We are ecstatic that FERC rejected Constitution’s desperate attempt to undermine New York’s authority to safeguard the quality of the state’s waterways,” Earthjustice attorney Moneen Nasmith, who represented intervenors helping to defend DEC’s decision, said in a statement Friday.
The battle over the $1 billion Constitution Pipeline isn’t over yet. Williams Cos., the lead sponsor of the project, plans to ask FERC to reconsider its Thursday ruling, and if necessary, take it to federal appeals court, company spokesman Christopher Stockton told E&E News.
Virginia
In Virginia, state lawmakers have for the most part given up on stopping the construction of two major natural gas pipelines through their state — the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline. But they haven’t given up on passing measures that would mitigate the impact of the pipelines on residents and the environment. Three members of the state House of Delegates and one member of the Senate introduced a package of legislation this week aimed at protecting landowners and water resources. For example, the legislation would requiring pipeline developers to post performance bonds to remediate any water quality effects from construction and limit the rights of pipeline surveyors to enter private property.
Both Democrats and Republicans in the state have come out in favor of the pipeline projects. Outgoing Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) has been a big booster of both projects. Incoming governor, Ralph Northam (D), has expressed his desire to let the regulatory process determine whether the pipelines get built. The bills are unlikely to gain much traction in the current legislative session, with Republicans maintaining a slim majority in the House of Delegates. But if the tides turn in future elections, the bills could serve as a template for taking measures to protect the health and safety of residents from pipelines and other energy infrastructure projects.
“We don’t feel as though this has been a great process where objective and clear information has been provided about the environmental impacts of these pipelines,” Virginia Del. Sam Rasoul, one of the sponsors of the legislation, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “There’s been a lot of political pressure.”
North Carolina
More uncertainty surrounds the future of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in North Carolina. On Wednesday, the pipeline’s ran into a setback when North Carolina regulators delayed a decision on the project’s clean water certificate until as late as February and postponed several other environmental permits. Dominion Energy, the lead developer of the project, had hoped to break ground last year on the $5.5 billion pipeline, designed to transport natural gas from West Virginia into Virginia and North Carolina.
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, like Constitution Pipeline, already had received permission from FERC to build but is still waiting for several permits in North Carolina. Environmental justice has become a major issue for the pipeline project in North Carolina. African Americans, Native Americans, and those living in poverty make up a greater percentage of the population than the statewide average in every county the pipeline would traverse, except one. More than a quarter of the state’s Native Americans live along the project’s path.
Louisiana
Environmental groups in Louisiana are not backing down from their own fight against the construction of a new project in Louisiana’s pipeline alley. The groups filed in federal court in Baton Rouge on Thursday to block construction permits awarded by the Army Corps of Engineers to the Bayou Bridge oil pipeline that would allow it to be built through environmentally sensitive areas, including the Atchafalaya Basin along the southern edge of the state.
“By allowing unsustainable development in the Basin, we are endangering hundreds of cities and communities and millions of people in southern Louisiana.” Dean Wilson, executive director of Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, one of the organizations filing the suit, told The Times-Picayune.
The Bayou Bridge oil pipeline is supported by most politicians in Louisiana, but is opposed by residents who live along its path, including Native Americans who have waged a long fight stop the project.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is another state where both Democrats and Republicans strongly support the natural gas drilling boom and construction of new pipelines. This week’s intensifying pipeline battles elsewhere in the nation followed on the heels of a major decision by Pennsylvania environmental regulators to temporarily suspend construction on Energy Transfer Partners’ proposed Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids pipeline. On January 3, the state ordered Energy Transfer Partners subsidiary Sunoco Pipeline LP to immediately cease construction of the pipeline due to “egregious and willful violations” of safety and environmental laws.
Given the likelihood Pennsylvania will eventually allow Energy Transfer Partners to resume construction, opponents of the Mariner East 2 pipeline are refusing to declare victory. “Now is not the time to sit back and bask in a false sense of relief. It’s a time to push back with everything we have left,” Elise Gerhart, whose family’s property is getting crossed by the pipeline, told ThinkProgress.
the rich asshole once asked a room full of black leaders if they knew Ben Carson — and was surprised when they said no: report
some rich asshole and Ben Carson speak about Black History Month (CNN/screen grab )
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In a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus last March, some rich asshole asked the gathering if they knew Ben Carson—and was surprised when they said no, NBC News reports.
the rich asshole also seemed confused when a member explained her constituents—“not all of whom are black”—would be negatively impacted by welfare cuts.
“Really?” the rich asshole asked, according to two attendees. “Then what are they?”
News of the rich asshole’s comments from that March meeting come amid furor over his reported claim about immigrants coming to the United States from “sh*thole” countries. the rich asshole reportedly made that remark while discussing people from Haiti, African countries and El Salvador.
The president on Friday insisted he did not use a derogatory term, and insisted his reported demand to remove Haitians from the United States was “made up” by the Democrats. Multiple people present at the meeting, including Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) say the rich asshole did, in fact, make those comments.
‘shitthole countries’ clap back at the rich asshole
"Casual Friday at the White House is soon to include hoods and tiki torches at this rate."
A Washington Post report that President some rich asshole called Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries “shithole countries” has drawn international ire and outrage from governments, public figures, and international media alike.
the rich asshole used the term during a meeting on Thursday with bipartisan lawmakers, to ask why immigrants from those countries were coming to the United States. The president denied the report on Friday, but not before lawmakers and staffers in the room confirmed that President the rich asshole, did, indeed, think out loud, “Why do we want all these people from Africa here? They’re shithole countries … We should have more people from Norway.”
the rich asshole has revoked the Temporary Protected Status of Haitians and Salvadorans — both groups here after earthquakes devastated their countries in 2010 and 2001 respectively, and has at times had choice things to say about people from those countries. For instance, in June, according to the New York Times, he said Haitians “all have AIDS.” Since coming into office, the rich asshole has not had much to say about Africa or Africans, other than saying that Nigerians would “never go back to their huts” after seeing the United States and (probably) mispronouncing Namibia (or possibly, really thinking there is a country called “Nambia”) in September.
The countries targeted swiftly reacted to the rich asshole’s comments on Thursday. Or, as the Associated Press deftly put it in a headline, “Africa startled by the rich asshole’s sudden and vulgar attention.”
The African Union is deeply offended by the president’s insult, with the AU spokeswoman telling the Associated Press that the body was “frankly alarmed.”
“Given the historical reality of how many Africans arrived in the United States as slaves, this statement flies in the face of all accepted behavior and practice,” Ebba Kalondo told the news service.
Botswana’s Ministry of International Affairs and Cooperation issued an official statement confirming that they’d called upon the U.S. ambassador there to not only express their displeasure at the implied insult directed at them, but also “enquired from the US Government through the Ambassador, to clarify if Botswana is regarded as a ‘shithole’ country given that there are Botswana nationals residing in the US , and also that some of Botswana may wish to visit the US.”
Jessie Duarte, a senior official with South Africa’s ruling African National Congress was equally indignant: “Ours is not a shithole country. Neither is Haiti or any other country in distress,” she said, according to Reuters.
South Africa’s Daily Maverick mused that, “Casual Friday at the White House is soon to include hoods and tiki torches at this rate.”
U.N. human rights spokesman, Rupert Colville, told reporters in Geneva that the rich asshole’s statement was “racist.”
“There is no other word one can use but racist. You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes’, whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome,” he said.
In a series of tweets that gave the rich asshole the benefit of the doubt, El Salvador’s Foreign Minister Hugo Martinez emphasized that, “The chief of the work to rebuild the Pentagon was a Salvadoran. A good portion of those who came to rebuild New Orleans after Katrina were Salvadorans.”
the rich asshole’s timing in insulting Haitians is also a raw topic: Friday is the anniversary of the earthquake that has precipitated years of hardship for a country that could ill afford the catastrophic series of events that followed (including a brutal, widespread cholera outbreak triggered by U.N. troops).
Haitian Ambassador to the U.S. Paul Altidor sounded pained when speaking to NPR on Friday morning, saying it was “quite regrettable” that instead of speaking about the country’s recovery efforts, he’d been summoned to comment on “something that is quite sad today.”
Altidor said he was “surprised” and “disappointed” by the statement, for which his government had yet to receive confirmation or explanation, adding that, “Once again, Haiti finds itself in the midst of very negative narrative here in the U.S.”
Norway, for the record, does not seem excited about being name-dropped by the rich asshole — politician Torbjoern Saetre was quick to tweet his response:
On behalf of Norway: Thanks, but no thanks....
««Why are we having all these people from shithole countries... fb.me/a0gj8uksp
‘Off the rails’: White House staffers are getting sick of dealing with the rich asshole’s ‘sh*thole’ problems
some rich asshole speaks to press (Photo: Screen capture)
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White House aides intended for President some rich asshole’s Thursday interview with the Wall Street Journal to be a boon for the administration. His “sh*thole” comment, printed in The Washington Post the same time the Journal ran their piece, ruined those plans.
As Politico reported Friday, staffers felt the Journal‘s piece would “help drive the message” home that the rich asshole has bolstered the economy with his tax bill.
The president, however, was “frustrated that an immigration deal would include protections for people from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries,” and lashed out, calling them “sh*thole countries” and claiming he’d rather people come from places like Norway instead.
“It’s very frustrating,” a senior White House aide told Politico. “We keep going off the rails with this other stuff.”
As the administration attempted to “stabilize” and move the conversation away from the president’s mental fitness, his comment welcomed detractions even from his allies. House Speaker Paul Ryan said the “sh*thole” comment was “very unfortunate” and “unhelpful,” while the CEO of the pro-the rich asshole media outlet Newsmax said that if the president indeed uttered the comment, it would be “not appropriate.”
‘Racist’ the rich asshole gets an epic shaming from Joy Reid as she personally addresses him on air
MSNBC News' Joy Reid.
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The question of President some rich asshole’s racism was the focus of MSNBC’s Live on Friday.
Anchor Katy Tur began the segment by noting, “today the world is asking, ‘Is the President of the United States a racist?'”
‘Mr. President, are you a racist?’: Trump flees MLK event as @AprilDRyan hurls questions at him rawstory.com/2018/01/mr-pre…
Tur introduced NBC News chief White House correspondent Hallie Jackson, live from the briefing room, for the latest on the rich asshole’s sh*thole denial.
“Hallie, I want to start with you because you were on the campaign trail with me … I want to get a sense from you what it’s like inside the White House today and what your sources are saying about whether or not he did in fact say these things,” Tur questioned.
“Let me tell you the newest thing we have learned, which is my reporting, along with Geoff Bennett at the White House unit, that the president was working the phones after all of this coverage happened late last night on the s-hole remarks looking for essentially reassurance, I’m told by one source familiar with the calls, and also told his mood was belligerent — not at the people he was calling, but at coverage at the fallout overall,” Jackson reported. “He was apparently, according to another source, looking for some insight into how all of this might resonate with his base.”
Joy Reid, host of AM Joy on MSNBC, was asked for analysis.
“You know, I find that interesting that the Republican senators are refusing to comment, no one is calling Dick Durbin a liar, because does anybody disbelieve some rich asshole said exactly what he said? His entire history is replete with racism,” Reid explained.
“He was racist against Barack Obama for the entirety of Barack Obama’s presidency and was a birther — was one of the original, OG birthers –which was a racist smear against the President of the United States,” Reid concluded.
“some rich asshole’s whole history says he said it, yeah he said it, of course he did,” Reid concluded.
Tur inquired about Reid’s family story.
“Let me just say to some rich asshole, who does watch a lot of TV , and apparently one can communicate to him through the TV, when my mother got here in 1960 … she didn’t come here to steal from the American people or to be on welfare, she came here to get a Ph.D., as did my father, who came here to get an education,” Reid explained. “My family has done a lot for this country.”
Watch:
the rich asshole’s Islamophobia is having an unexpected result
Those Muslim bans didn't go over so well.
President the rich asshole’s effort to bar many Muslims from entering the United States may have actually caused public opinion to shift towards Muslims in general — just not in the direction the president likely intended.
Many Americans who once supported or remained neutral on the rich asshole’s travel ban have altered their stance, according to a new report in Political Behavior. The study, authored by political scientists Loren Collingwood, Nazita Lajevardi, and Kassra A.R. Oskooii, surveyed 423 people prior to the first iteration of the ban, which targeted all refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations.
When surveyed again a week later, many of the same respondents seemed to have changed their minds. Around 30 percent said they felt more negatively towards the policy than they had prior to its introduction, with many of those showing the biggest shift also describing their U.S. nationality as a major component of their identity.
That’s a notable turn of events, one that indicates the rich asshole administration’s hardline efforts to target immigrants — especially Muslim immigrants — could be backfiring.
The travel ban in all its iterations may come to be one of the policy decisions the president regrets most. Signed on January 27, the first version of the ban spurred mass protests, chaos at airports, and national outcry. Two additional versions of the ban followed, the last of which introduced a ban on North Korean citizens and some Venezuelan officials — two non-Muslim-majority countries. But the moniker “Muslim ban” has endured, in no small part because of the rich asshole’s own language. As a presidential candidate, the rich asshole repeatedly called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”
Much of the U.S. public sees the travel ban as a Muslim ban, something that may have initially helped the rich asshole. But if the Political Behavior study is any indicator, that connection isn’t helping curry support for one of the president’s most controversial policy efforts. The study comes after a year marked by rising violence against a number of groups, including Muslims, people of color, Jews, immigrants, and the LGBTQ community. Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, told ThinkProgress that’s not surprising.
“We’ve seen twin tracks with the rise of the rich asshole. We’ve seen an unprecedented rise of Islamophobia and hate incidents targeting not only Muslims but other minority groups,” Hooper said. “Along with that we see another track, a tremendous rise in support for Muslims in the United States.”
Those dueling narratives emerged after November 2016, Hooper said. Immediately after the rich asshole’s election, Muslim communities experienced backlash, with mosques and community centers reporting vandalism, threats, and violent incidents. But the rise in hate is far from the only story.
“Thousands of people volunteered with our organization and the donations poured in,” Hooper said. These days, he noted, when a mosque is vandalized, “we see so much support. There’s a big rise in support for American Muslims and our institutions. It comes from a recognition that the
\the rich asshole administration and its supporters have ushered in the rise of hate and white supremacy. People are becoming engaged with the political process. They see what’s happening.”
Others noted the same phenomenon. Ani Zonneveld, the president and founder of Muslims For Progressive Values, told ThinkProgress that a major turning point came following the initial travel ban.
“As someone who witnessed a demonstration at the airport upon returning from international travel, and as a Muslim, I was moved to tears. It reminded me why I am an American,” Zonneveld said. “The overwhelming push-back by non-Muslims, individual Americans who were untouched by the travel ban, and yet demonstrated in numbers, and with states and civil liberty organizations filing suites, reminded others: it is un-American and ‘not cool’ to discriminate. I believe for those on the sidelines, this unapologetic stance is what they needed to see from their fellow Americans.”
Still, advocates are quick to note that displays of support are far from an indicator that Islamophobic trends are ebbing. Hate crimes targeting Muslims rose in major cities across the country in 2017 and many U.S. Muslims have reported feeling fear and anxiety as the rich asshole’s presidency has progressed. That atmosphere is one hanging over the community as 2018 progresses. But studies measuring reactions to policies targeting Muslims are still giving some hope that change could be on the horizon.
“Hopefully as people realize the negative impact rising bigotry and hate has on our society, we’ll see more and more people rejecting this kind of rhetoric,” Hooper said. “Instead of trying to push us back to the 1950s, we’ll see people waking up.”
Haitian government claims ousted dictator ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier laundered stolen money through the rich asshole Tower
some rich asshole and Jean-Claude Duvalier
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President some rich asshole insulted Haiti during an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers, but he once signed off on a shady real estate deal with the nation’s ousted dictator.
More than a fifth of the rich asshole’s condominiums in the U.S. have been purchased since the 1980s in secretive cash transactions that fit a Treasury Department definition of suspicious transactions, reported Buzzfeed News.
Records show more than 1,300 the rich asshole condos were purchased through shell companies, which allow buyers to shield their finances and identities, and without a mortgage, which protects buyers from lender inquiries.
Those two characteristics raise alarms about possible money laundering, according to statements issued in recent months by the Department of Treasury, which has investigated transactions just like those all over the country.
The agency may even require real estate professionals to adopt new programs to keep illegally obtained funds from being plowed into luxury housing to conceal the money’s origins.
the rich asshole companies reportedly sold $35 million in real estate last year alone — mostly to secretive shell companies that open the president up to possible influence peddling.
According to the Buzzfeed News report, the Haitian government complained in the 1980s that former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier laundered money stolen from the Caribbean nation’s treasury by purchasing an apartment in the rich asshole Tower.
Duvalier, nicknamed “Baby Doc,” was overthrown in 1986, but three years earlier used a Panamanian shell company called Lasa Trade and Finance to buy apartment 54-K in the rich asshole’s Manhattan tower for $446,875 cash.
the rich asshole, the future U.S. president, signed the deed of sale.
Federal prosecutors charged a Russian native in 1984 with laundering the proceeds from a gasoline bootlegging operation through five the rich asshole Tower condos purchased for $4.9 million.
David Bogatin pleaded guilty in 1987 and served eight years in federal prison.
the rich asshole Taj Mahal casino was charged under anti-money laundering regulations 106 times in 1990 and 1991 by failing to identify gamblers who bought or cashed out more than $10,000 in chips.
Those reports are required to help authorities identify gamblers who may be laundering money, and the rich asshole’s casino paid a $477,000 fine to the Treasury Department in 1998 without admitting wrongdoing.
Anthony Scaramucci claims the rich asshole is ‘perhaps the least racist’ — blasts America’s ‘puritanical society’ instead
some rich asshole and Anthony Scaramucci (Twitter)
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Anthony Scaramucci, the former Goldman Sachs’ investment banker and hedge fund manager who spent a tumultuous ten days in July as President some rich asshole’s press secretary, has rushed to defend his former boss from allegations of racism following the infamous ‘sh*thole’ comments by the commander in chief.
The White House did not deny the comments on Thursday, but on Friday the rich asshole claimed he did not use the slur. Senator Dick Durbin (R-IL), who was in the room, has confirmed the use of ‘sh*thole’ and said the comments were “hate-filled, vile and racist.”
President the rich asshole “is not a racist. He is far from it,” Scaramucci claimed.
“Perhaps the least racist,” Scaramucci suggested.
The short-time political operative then attempted to spin criticism of the rich asshole’s comments as being about the profanity, instead of over racism.
“Apparently he and I are the only two people that use a few curse words here and there. Certainly journalists don’t talk that way. Who knew lived in such a puritanical society!” Scaramuchi wondered.
.@potus is not a racist. He is far from it. Perhaps the least racist. Apparently he and I are the only two people that use a few curse words here and there. Certainly journalists don’t talk that way. Who knew lived in such a puritanical society!
Dick Durbin sets the record straight, refutes the rich asshole’s ‘s **thole’ denial
Senator who witnessed the rich asshole’s "hate-filled" remark calls it "vile and racist."
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) — the only Democratic lawmaker who was in the room when President the rich asshole called African countries “shitholes” on Thursday — described the rich asshole’s comments as “hate-filled, vile and racist.”
“He said these hate-filled things,” Durbin added. “I cannot believe that in the history of the White House, in that Oval Office, any president has ever spoken the words that I personally heard our president speak yesterday.”
BREAKING: Democrat Sen. Durbin, who was in meeting with Pres. Trump: "He said these hate-filled things." nbcnews.to/2CVBh8m
Alluding to the weak, belated denial the rich asshole issued Friday morning with regard the “shithole” comment, Durbin accused the rich asshole of lying.
“It is not true,” Durbin said of the rich asshole’s denial. “He said these hate-filled things, and he said them repeatedly.”
Durbin commended one of his Republican colleagues — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — for confronting the rich asshole about his language during the meeting, which was about immigration reform.
“My colleague, [Sen. Graham], spoke up and made a direct comment on what the president said,” Durbin said. “For him to confront the president as he did, literally sitting next to him, took extraordinary political courage and I respect him for it.”
But Graham and the other Republican lawmakers who were in the room — a group that included House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Sen. David Perdue (R-GA), and Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-VA), among others — have yet to publicly comments on the rich asshole’s racist remark.
Meanwhile, the White House is trying to do damage control. On Friday morning, White House spokesperson Mercedes Schlapp went on Fox News and was pressed about whether the rich asshole actually said what Durbin claims he did. She dodged the question.
.@BillHemmer to WHITE HOUSE SPOX: So did Trump call African countries "shitholes" or not?
WHITE HOUSE SPOX @mercedesschlapp: There has been lots of inaccurate reporting.
HEMMER: But did he or not?
SPOX: I wasn't in the meeting so don't know, but Trump says he didn't.
“There’s been been selective leaks, there’s been inaccurate reporting on this,” she said. “I was not in that meeting, but what I can tell you is that he made it very clear that that language was not used, and it’s very clear that this is the Democrats trying to derail this process.”
On Thursday, however, the White House issued a statement that didn’t deny that the rich asshole had called African countries “shitholes.” Later in the evening CNN reported that the rich asshole administration staffers were actually optimistic the president’s comments would “resonate with his base.”
On Friday, CNN reported that President the rich asshole spent Thursday night “phoning allies and friends, asking them how they thought the ‘shithole’ remark was playing out in the press” in what one White House official referred to as a “victory lap.”
‘His spine has been removed’: Watch Nicolle Wallace blast ‘incredible shrinking man’ Paul Ryan
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, host of 'Deadline: White House'
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MSNBC’s Dateline: White House examined the extent to which President some rich asshole’s alleged racism are enabled by Republican Party leaders — in particular Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Anchor Nicolle Wallace played a clip of Speaker Ryan responding to the rich asshole’s alleged ‘sh*thole’ comments.
“Oh my God, did you say that? An ice storm is unfortunate, and we have friends from Africa? That’s like 20, 40 years ago, when people would say, ‘I have a friend that’s a lesbian,'” Wallace suggested.
“I mean, what was that? What?” Wallace asked Washington Post White House Bureau Chief Phil Rucker.
“To me, that was the most outrageous thing that happened today,” Wallace concluded. “What’s wrong with him?”
“This is Paul Ryan, this is how he was during the campaign, it’s how he’s been all year,” Rucker answered.
“He’s like the incredible shrinking man,” Wallace observed. “It’s like his spine has been removed and he’s trying to diminish himself as a moral human being, as a leader, by the hour, by the day.”
“He sees himself as a moral leader,” Rucker began to reply.
“He’s not,” Wallace interrupted.
“But he doesn’t actually challenge this president and he’ll say it’s because he wants to advance the tax cuts or whatever,” Rucker continued.
“Tax cuts have been passed,” Wallace reminded.
“I know, but he just — he can’t bring himself to stand up to the rich asshole and call a spade a spade,” Rucker explained. “They all try to stroke the rich asshole’s ego and satisfy him and try not to enrage him and set him off. at the end of the day, the rich asshole is the leader of their party, the Republican Party, and the Republican Party is defined by this president and his actions and behavior.”
Watch:
‘Get out you treasonous hypocritical sociopath’: Internet destroys ‘Sh*thole Speaker Ryan’
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI)
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President some rich asshole’s alleged ‘sh*thole’ comments have drawn attention to Speaker Paul Ryan’s continued support for his fellow Republican.
Randy Bryce, the Wisconsin steelworker challenging the GOP leader in the 2018 midterms, took strong issue with Speaker Ryan referring to the rich asshole’s comments as “unfortunate.”
No @SpeakerRyan, Donald Trump's remarks aren't "unfortunate." They're racist, bigoted, and un-American. And if you can't see that, you just might be too. twitter.com/AP/status/9518…
Other Twitter users took to the president’s favorite website with stronger language. Using the hashtag #Sh*tholeSpeakerRyan, Ryan was harshly slammed for enabling the rich asshole’s racism.
hey @SpeakerRyan your presence as Speaker of the House is unfortunate and unhelpful. You've shown again that you don't have what it takes to be a leader. You completely lack a moral compass and any sign of integrity or empathy. #ShitHoleCountiries #ShitholeSpeakerRyan
@SpeakerRyan It's "unfortunate" that you have no testicles and "unhelpful" that you are an enabler no #ShitholeSpeakerRyan
Trumpism is racism.
If you stand with Trump - you have set yourself outside of the acceptable societal norms of 21st century America.
You have no home here.#TrumpIsRacist #TrumpRussiaConspiracy #ShitholeSpeakerRyan #GOPComplicit #GOP #Deplorables #MAGA2018 #rachelmaddow
@SpeakerRyan supports @realDonaldTrump's racism. Ryan too must believe some of our allies' homes are #shitholes. #ShitholeSpeakerRyan
Speaker Paul Ryan's comment on Trump's #ShitholeCountries remarks: they were "unfortunate and unhelpful." That was the best he could do? It's even worse than his usual "thoughts and prayers." #ShitholeSpeakerRyan
I can't help but wonder how many other vile things @realDonaldTrump has said that we don't know about because D's were not there to let us know. I'm sure he's been vile many times but R's who don't have the morals to speak out against him. #ShitholePresident #ShitholeSpeakerRyan
@SpeakerRyan Are you going to speak out or will you be known as a shit hole? For once do the respectable thing! Or be #ShitholeSpeakerRyan
"Unhelpful" is a strong condemnation? He said he wants only whites in America. How the hell is making a one word comment of "unhelpful" a condemnation? The bar cannot get any lower twitter.com/ashleyrparker/…
I cannot even tell you how many times I have said "the bar cannot get any lower" and then it does, repeatedly
there is no low for them, they just keep digging#ShitHoleTrumpBrand #ShitholeSpeakerRyan #racist
Wal-Mart is having a clearance sale on spines. You should check it out.@SenTomCotton@sendavidperdue#ShitholeSpeakerRyan
Unfortunate? Really @SpeakerRyan that was your first reaction? #ShitholeSpeakerRyan #ShitholePresident #RacistGOP
@SpeakerRyan "Unhelpful"? That is your description of @realDonaldTrump overt racism? You are such a spineless, self-serving coward. Disgusting. I don't know what you have to do to sleep at night. You have sold your soul (& those of the American people). #ShitholeSpeakerRyan
The "shithole" is the US Congress. The "shithole" is the Republican Party. #ShitholePresident #ShitholeSpeakerRyan
Agreed, @SpeakerRyan is either a bigot, a coward, or both (Spoiler: he's both) #resist #ShitholeSpeakerRyan twitter.com/IronStache/sta…
Absolutely lovingly all the white GOP men telling people of colour how to interpret blatant racism#shitholepresident
As a white person it breaks my heart that people of color experience racism. I don’t feeI this way. I apologize sincerely for ignorant and hateful racists . Please know that they don’t speak for us normal white folks. #ShitholePresident #ShitholeSpeakerRyan #racist
Hey @SpeakerRyan It's "very unfortunate" that you serve as the Ted Bundy in the House of Representatives. Your legislative attacks on Americans have been "unhelpful". Get out you treasonous hypocritical sociopath. #ShitholeSpeakerRyan #TreasonWeasel
You know what we aren't talking about.....why nobody is holding @LindseyGrahamSC accountable for an honest assessment of what happened in that meeting. Why not? #ShitHoleTrumpBrand #ShitholeSpeakerRyan
@SpeakerRyan Are you going to speak out or will you be known as a shit hole? For once do the respectable thing! Or be #ShitholeSpeakerRyan
Paul Ryan's response to #ShitholePredident - "The 1st thing that came to my mind was "Very unfortunate. Unhelpful' "
Not "This is morally wrong", not "That's not what we believe", not "This is bad" but "This is going to make us LOOK bad"
@SpeakerRyan, you earned the hashtag #ShitholeSpeakerRyan
Hey Paul.
When are you going to grow a pair?
Please resign.
You do America a disservice with your sycophancy.
(It means "ass-kissing") #ShitholeSpeakerRyan #GOPScum
rac·ist - ˈrāsəst
1. a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another. #shittypresident #ShitholeSpeakerRyan #shitwasgreatuntil #ShitholePredident #ShitholePredident
BREAKING: Speaker Paul Ryan says President Donald Trump's vulgar slur about African countries was `very unfortunate, unhelpful'
"Unfortunate and unhelpful"? WTF kind of comment is this @SpeakerRyan Seems to me like you're an unfortunate & unhelpful Speaker & Representative. Cannot wait until you are voted OUT #ShitholeSpeakerRyan #ShitholePresident
Ryan has spoken out. Doesn't deny Trump Said it. Said it was unfortunate .
And because of his spineless remark, one new hashtag is: #ShitholeSpeakerRyan
Africa calls the rich asshole racist after ‘shithole’ remark
President some rich asshole (Screenshot)
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African politicians and diplomats labeled U.S. President some rich asshole a racist on Friday after he was reported to have described some immigrants from Africa and Haiti as coming from “shithole” countries.
the rich asshole reportedly made the remarks at a White House meeting on immigration on Thursday and a U.S. senator who attended the gathering said on Friday that the president used “vile, vulgar” language, including repeatedly using the word “shithole.”
the rich asshole denied on Friday using such derogatory language, but he was widely condemned in many African countries and in Haiti and El Salvador, and by international rights organizations.
“Ours is not a shithole country and neither is Haiti or any other country in distress,” Jessie Duarte, the deputy secretary general of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress told reporters at a news conference in East London.
“We would not deign to make comments as derogatory as that about any country that has any kind of socio-economic or other difficulties,” Duarte said, adding that much like their African counterparts, millions of U.S. citizens were affected by problems such as unemployment.
Botswana’s foreign ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador in protest and called the comments “highly irresponsible, reprehensible and racist.”
In a statement it said it had asked the U.S. government, through its ambassador, to “clarify” if the derogatory remark also applied to Botswana given that there were Botswana nationals living in the United States and others who wished to go there.
Senegal’s foreign ministry also called in the U.S. ambassador in Dakar to demonstrate its displeasure, a U.S. State Department official said.
The African Union (AU), an organization which promotes cooperation on the continent, said it was alarmed by the rich asshole’s “very racist” comments.
“Given the historical reality of how African Americans arrived in the United States as slaves, and the United States being the biggest example of how a nation has been built by migration – for a statement like that to come is particularly upsetting,” AU spokeswoman Ebba Kalondo said.
The AU’s mission in Washington expressed its “infuriation, disappointment and outrage” at the comment and demanded a retraction as well as an apology.
In Haiti, on the eighth anniversary of a devastating earthquake that killed about 220,000 people, the government also summoned the top U.S. diplomat for an explanation, while the Haitian ambassador to Washington called for an apology.
“Haitians don’t deserve such treatment,” said Ambassador Paul Altidor. “Haitians should not be seen as a bunch of immigrants who come to the United States to exploit U.S. resources.”
Special status given to about 59,000 Haitian immigrants, that has protected them from deportation following the 2010 earthquake, will end next year following a the rich asshole administration ruling last month.
El Salvador, also facing an end to protected status for its 200,000 citizens living in the United States, sent a formal letter of protest to the U.S. government over the comments.
El Salvador’s foreign ministry said the U.S. president had “implicitly” accepted the use of “harsh terms detrimental to the dignity of El Salvador and other countries.”
‘HARSH AND OFFENSIVE’
Since taking office a year ago, the rich asshole has pursued controversial policies aimed at curbing immigration into the United States as part of a hard-line “America First” agenda.
the rich asshole said on Twitter on Friday he merely used “tough” language when discussing a new immigration bill with a group of U.S. senators.
He said the bill was a step backwards because it would force the United States “to take large numbers of people from high crime countries which are doing badly”.
The rich asshole administration has spoken little about how it wants to engage with African countries, focusing its foreign policy instead on issues like North Korea and Islamic State.
On the streets of Lusaka, capital of the southern African country of Zambia, the rich asshole’s reported remark reinforced long-held views about the U.S. leader.
“the rich asshole has always been a racist, only a racist can use such foul language,” said Nancy Mulenga, a student at the University of Zambia.
Retired Ethiopian long-distance runner Haile Gebrselasse , who won his first 10,000 Olympic gold medal in the U.S. city of Atlanta in 1996, told Reuters the rich asshole’s comments did not reflect the views of all Americans.
The United Nations human rights office said it had no doubt the rich asshole’s remarks were “racist,” while the Vatican newspaper branded them as “particularly harsh and offensive.”
“You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes’, whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome,” said U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville.
(Reporting by Ed Stoddard in East London, Chris Mfula in Lusaka and Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa, Eric Beech, Arshad Mohammed and Warren Strobel in Washington; Writing by Alexander Winning in Johannesburg and Mary Milliken in Washington; Editing by Peter Graff and James Dalgleish)
12:32 a.m. ET 01-12-2018
On CNN and MSNBC, a bipartisan array of pundits and lawmakers condemned President the rich asshole's "shithole" remarks, but on Fox News, Tucker Carlson rushed to the rich asshole's defense, blaming the backlash on overzealous political correctness, while Jesse Waters downplayed the comments as how "the forgotten men and women in America talk at the bar."
On The Five, Watters said the rich asshole's remarks were "a little offensive," but "there's so many more offensive things happening in the world. ISIS beheading people. There's crime in the inner city. There are people getting kicked off welfare." the rich asshole was talking "about third-world countries," he continued. "You're bringing in people that have very low skills and low education." (That's actually not true, GOP pollster Frank Luntz noted on Twitter: "43 percent of immigrants from 'shithole' African countries have a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 33 percent of the overall American population.")
On his show, Carlson argued that "President the rich asshole said something that almost every single person in America actually agrees with," and later said he didn't "understand what the sin is. You are not allowed to point out other countries aren't as good places to live as America? Like, what is the problem?" When guest Jose Parra pointed out that the rich asshole was only targeting "countries with brown people," Carlson ignored him. "People are actually staying in this country right now legally because Haiti is so bad, we don't think they should have to return," he said. "So if you say Norway is a better place to live and Haiti is kind of a hole, well anyone who's been to those countries or has lived in them would agree! But we're jumping up and down, 'Oh, you can't say that!' Why can't you say that?"
At least he ended his show on a high note. Catherine Garcia
On The Five, Watters said the rich asshole's remarks were "a little offensive," but "
On his show, Carlson argued that "President the rich asshole said something that almost every single person in America actually agrees with," and later said he didn't "understand what the sin is. You are not allowed to point out other countries aren't as good places to live as America? Like, what is the problem?" When guest Jose Parra pointed out that the rich asshole was only targeting "countries with brown people," Carlson ignored him. "People are actually staying in this country right now legally because Haiti is so bad, we don't think they should have to return," he said. "So if you say Norway is a better place to live and Haiti is kind of a hole, well anyone who's been to those countries or has lived in them would agree! But we're jumping up and down, 'Oh, you can't say that!' Why can't you say that?"
At least he ended his show on a high note. Catherine Garcia
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