CNN: Maybe Trump Didn't Actually Say What We've Been Saying He Said

For the past half-a-day or so the media and their fan club have been lathered up by the story that President Trump referred to some countries using the technical term-of-art “shithole.”

I’ve been laughing at the number of people who are now trying to convince me that neither Haiti nor El Salvador qualifies for that term:

https://twitter.com/HMSPitts/status/951626926799630336

Whatever. And the alacrity with which the media and their fan club translated a statement of the obvious into something racist is simply another marker of lack of seriousness that has permeated the media since around July 2016.

Why must you conflate a derogatory remark about a country

With everyone who lives in that country

For example #MediaMatters is a sh*thole organization

But not all @mmfa employees are smear merchant propagandists

WAIT, maybe not my best analogy https://t.co/CVJqSsEbN2

— Jim Hanson (@JimHansonDC) January 12, 2018

I’ll strongly disagree with my friend Erick Erickson when he writes I Would Rather the Poor From Africa Than the Rich From Norway. I think this sounds nice but it is wrongheaded. People don’t immigrate alone. They bring their culture with them. That is why we have “Little Italy” and “Chinatown” and “Koreatown” and, if you are Jesse Jackson, “Hymietown.” People from failed states, particularly adults from failed states, also bring with them the coping behaviors and survival strategies that allowed them to stay alive. Those artifacts are implanted within that community. If you doubt me, look at Sweden and Germany and France and the UK. For all their failings, a rich Dane is going to be acquainted with how to get by in a pluralistic society, he’s going to understand the rule of law, he’s going to be familiar with the basic civic structures and concepts that are based in the European Enlightenment which, like it or not, is the foundation for the U.S. Constitution, our jurisprudence, and our civil society. And a rich Dane is very unlikely to become a ward of the state. The fact that people from failed states and semi-functioning Third World states want to come to America does not mean that letting them come here is a good idea.

Having said that, the controversy today is now whether Trump actually made the remarks. The problem is that there is a) no record of the event and b) no one on the record saying this. But, as we’ve seen from the Michael Wolff book and all of his supporters, truth is actually irrelevant

Michael Wolff to MSNBC anchor on his book: “If it rings true, it is true” https://t.co/ArHjUFExHF pic.twitter.com/TTvNOEUy4z

— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) January 8, 2018

This is the official response:

The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made – a big setback for DACA!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018

Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said “take them out.” Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings – unfortunately, no trust!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018

Now CNN’s Jake Tapper has weighed in. He thinks Trump has a point:

So how and why is President Trump denying the remarks that he reportedly said?

I have some clarifying reporting from a source familiar the meeting. I want to start by saying that this does not make what he said any more acceptable, but it might shed some light on it all. 1/

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 12, 2018

The president did not refer to Haiti as a “shithole” country according to the source familiar with the meeting… though he DID say it about countries in Africa…

What happened, the source says, is there was a conflation of two different remarks by the president. 2/

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 12, 2018

First, when talking about “temporary protected status” countries as part of the immigration deal it was mentioned that Salvadorans, Hondurans and Haitians have that status. 3/

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 12, 2018

“Haitians?” the president said. “Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out” —- meaning take them out of the deal.

4/

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 12, 2018

Then in a separate part of the conversation when they were referencing the diversity visa lottery, President Trump referred to people coming from Africa as coming from “shithole countries.”

Again, I’m not saying this is better. Just that this is what happened, per my source. 5/

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 12, 2018