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An alarming number of conservative commentators are taking his side.
Many around the nation and the world are rightly outraged by Donald Trump's reported use of the word "shithole" to describe certain countries, but several right-wing commentators think it's just dandy.
During a meeting Thursday at the White House,Trump reportedly questioned the United States' policy of accepting immigrants from "shithole countries," such as Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations. He denies using that term, but Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who was at the meeting, said that Trump indeed use it, and others have corroborated him.
Media Matters, a watchdog group that specifically monitors "conservative misinformation," has compiled a list of right-wing pundits who defended the Trump remark. Among them:
Fox News contributor Jesse Watters managed to insult a broad swath of people by saying. "This is how the forgotten men and women in America talk." He added, "This is who Trump is. He doesn't care. He shoots from the hip. And if he offends some people, fine."
Fox News host Tucker Carlson alleged that "almost every single person in America" agrees with Trump's assessment, and that the nations he referenced are "dangerous," "dirty," "corrupt," and "poor."
Ben Shapiro, editor in chief of The Daily Wire, said on Fox & Friends, "To be fair to the president, some countries are really crappy," adding that Trump made the remark "behind closed doors," as if that makes it OK.
On the Breitbart News Daily radio show, cohost Raheem Kassam went so far as to compare Trump to William Shakespeare. "There were plenty of occasions in which he was seen to drop in things that were not OK back then and things that would challenge the audience and disturb the audience and shock the audience," Kassam said of the Bard. "And so I don't buy the whole, presidential, unpresidential, especially when it comes to a single use of a single word like this." Well, when you insult millions of people by using it...
And Rich Lowry, editor of the mainstream conservative publication National Review, had this to say on CNN: "These countries he was referring to, they are basket cases. They are disaster areas. And the point he was making within the context of the immigration policy discussion is we'd be much better off with people with higher levels of education and skills coming here." So much for give me your tired, your poor...
On Twitter, it got even worse. The Media Matters report directed readers to numerous tweets, including these:
\u201cIf they aren\u2019t shithole countries, why don\u2019t their citizens stay there? Let\u2019s be honest. Call it like it is.\u201d— Tomi Lahren (@Tomi Lahren) 1515744578
\u201cOkay, yes -- Trump shouldn't call them "shithole countries." A little respect is in order. They are shithole nations.\u201d— Ann Coulter (@Ann Coulter) 1515712774
\u201cWith #Shitholegate, I hate the takes of the FOX News/Alt-Lite apologists more than the liberals. \u201cHey guys, it\u2019s about economics and legal systems, not race\u201d is inane. It\u2019s obviously all about race, and to their credit, liberals point out the obvious.\u201d— Richard Spencer (@Richard Spencer) 1515757795
\u201cA CONCEPT, EXPLAINED: Countries so messed up that most of their citizens are trying to run away officially qualify as \u201cshitholes\u201d\u201d— Dinesh D'Souza (@Dinesh D'Souza) 1515758850
Find the complete roundup here.
