Ex-president avoided past ‘shithole countries’ racist invective, but said the US hadn’t gotten enough immigrants from ‘nice countries’

Donald Trump bemoaned a lack of immigrants to the US from “nice” countries “like Denmark [or] Switzerland”, offering millionaire donors at a Florida fundraiser a reprise of infamous racist Oval Office remarks about people coming to America from “shithole countries”.

Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president again, despite facing 88 criminal charges and multimillion-dollar civil penalties for tax fraud and defamation, the latter arising from a rape allegation a judge called “substantially true”.

According to the New York Times, which cited an unnamed attendee at the Saturday event in Palm Beach, Trump told his audience: “These are people coming in from prisons and jails. They’re coming in from just unbelievable places and countries, countries that are a disaster.

“And when I said, you know, ‘Why can’t we allow people to come in from nice countries,’ I’m trying to be nice. Nice countries, you know like Denmark, Switzerland? Do we have any people coming in from Denmark? How about Switzerland? How about Norway?”

  • XIIIesq@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    You’re missing the point.

    People don’t up sticks and move across the world for the fun of it. They do it because they seek a better life, the US mostly can’t offer that for people who already live in an advanced country.

    Like wise, if you don’t want immigrants from “shit hole” countries, your options are to help make their own country better so that they won’t want to leave or to make your own country shitter than theirs so that they won’t want to come.

    • samus12345@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      or to make your own country shitter than theirs so that they won’t want to come.

      Republicans are certainly trying!

    • laughterlaughter@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I moved to Germany for the fun of it (you could say that I was seeking a better life, I guess.)

      I’ve also moved across states in the U.S. for the fun it.

      It can happen.

      I’m aware that a whole lot of people do it for different reasons, though.

      And yeah, I find it funny when Americans complain about migrants from, say, Central America. They should learn the role the U.S. played in destabilizing the region in the 80s.