White Nationalists Just Loved Trump’s ‘Shithole’ Comment

Image by Getty/Forward Montage

By Nathan Guttman January 13, 2018

President Trump may have come under fire for his comment referring to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries,” but for white nationalists, he struck just the right tone.

The Anti Defamation League collected some of the reactions in the far-right twittersphere, where Trump’s remarks were yet another reason to celebrate the president.

For alt-right leader Richard Spencer, Trump’s comments were a chance to make his own racist remarks about Haitian people. “It’s a potential beautiful and productive country,” he tweeted about Haiti. “The problem is its filled with shithole people.” He later twitted a photo waving a Norwegian flag with the hashtag #NordicLivesMatter.

Richard Anglin of the Daily Stormer called Trump’s comments “encouraging and refreshing,” and noted that they indicate that “Trump is more or less on the same page as us with regards to race and immigration.” He went on to rant about “shitty brown people who come to our country exclusively to parasite off of us.”

Former KKK leader David Duke also loved Trump’s words, but now he expects more. “Trump spoke blunt truth that makes PERFECT TRUTH,” Duke twitted. “So, Mr. Prez, ACT ON IT – DON’T CAVE IN!”

For some, it was also an opportunity to air anti-Semitic creeds. Mike Enoch of Right Stuff, claimed that Jews who control the media are responsible for highlighting Trump’s comments.

Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO