AP
Washington, Updated At: 09:47 AM Dec 10, 2025 IST
President Donald Trump on Tuesday admitted he used the slur “shithole countries” to describe Haiti and African nations during a 2018 meeting with lawmakers, and he boasted about the comment at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump, speaking at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, said he had “a meeting and I said why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right? Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden?” He added, “But we always take people from Somalia. Places that are a disaster. Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.”
The reference revived a remark that had sparked global outrage when reports emerged in 2018. At the time, the White House did not deny the substance of the comments, though Trump tweeted the next day that “this was not the language I used” and insisted he “never said anything derogatory about Haitians.”
In 2018 the comments were widely condemned as racist; some congressional Republicans criticized them and foreign leaders protested. Botswana summoned the U.S. ambassador, and Senegal’s President Macky Sall said he was shocked and stressed that “Africa and the Black race merit the respect and consideration of all.”
Since leaving office and during his subsequent campaigning, Trump has frequently broken norms of presidential decorum, often using profanity in public remarks. This year he twice used the F-word on camera and, on Thanksgiving, used a dated slur for people with intellectual disabilities when criticizing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — a comment he stood by when asked by reporters.
