The enablers are the problem
by digby
Yes, Trump is racist and a xenophobe. Shocking, I know. He's the guy who tried to prove Barack Obama was an illegitimate president because he was allegedly born in a shit hole African country instead of America. His announcement speech called Mexican rapists. He wants to mass deport millions of people.This is who he is. And there's nothing we didn't know about this aspect of his despicable character before today so this is just par for the course.
Conservative commentator Jason Miller was forced to bend himself into a pretzel to defend the recent comments by President Donald Trump.
“Why are we having all these people from sh*thole countries come here?” Trump said, according to The Washington Post. What Trump was referring to were people from African countries and Haiti. Instead, Trump wants to see more people from places like Norway.
Miller began by trying to say people were putting words in the president’s mouth.
“We don’t need to put words in the president’s mouth,” host Anderson Cooper cut in to say. “The president is putting racist words in his own mouth.”
Miller maintained that Trump wasn’t making racist comments. He said that Trump was trying to solve the DREAMer problem and find a solution, “something he’s not getting credit for.”
Coopber broke in to say that clearly the strive to help DREAMers didn’t include Haitians or Africans.
Miller continued trying to promote Trump’s statements on immigration but Cooper cut in asking what any of that has to do with “sh*thole countries.”
“So there are more merit people in Norway than there are from Haiti or Africa? Africa, by the way, an enormous continent full of dozens of countries,” Cooper continued.
Miller said that the plan that was presented still have “carve-outs” of economically depressed nations that are sending people to the United States.
“Africa.” Cooper said simply. “Have you been to Africa? I mean, do you know — does the president know how many countries? I know the president likes to make up countries not actually in Africa but there are actually an incredibly developed and well-off countries in Africa. In fact, when the president was speaking to African leaders he talked about his rich friends making money in Africa.”
Miller claimed that Cooper was leaving out things from the report and that Trump named Asian countries but didn’t specifically name anyone because he doesn’t believe there should be carve-outs.
“So, he’s willing to generalize about all Asians as working hard and deserve the merit of coming here but all Africans not,” Cooper said. “How is that not race?”
That’s when Van Jones got involved. In an outright argument, Jones demanded Miller denounce Trump’s words, which Miller refused to do.
“What’s happening is you have a president who has shown his heart to the country,” Jones said. “In his heart people from African countries — people from Africa, almost a billion people live there, to him all s-hole people who live in s-hole places. That’s wrong and you should denounce it. You should, I know you very well. Why won’t you denounce that?”