GOPers can’t get their s**t straight
PIVOT TO ‘TRUMP DIDN’T SAY IT!’
REPUBLICANS WERE paddling hard up s--creek Sunday as they changed their stories about President Trump’s vulgar immigration remark and were unable to even reach a consensus on whether he said it or not.
As Trump continued to get lambasted over reports that he described Haiti, El Salvador and several African nations as “shithole countries,” Republicans attending the Oval Office meeting on Thursday had conflicting interpretations of what the President said.
“I’m telling you, he did not use that word,” Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
“It’s a gross
The President meanwhile brushed off the backlash, telling reporters his critics have him all wrong.
“I am not a racist,” Trump told reporters. “I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed. misrepresentation.” That I can tell you.”
According to reports, Trump was complaining that he did not want more people from “shithole countries” entering the United States and would prefer immigrants from countries like Norway.
National Review editor Rich Lowry may have illuminated, or further confused, the debate Sunday, saying sources gave him a different version of Trump’s slur.
“My understanding from the meeting is he used a different but very closely related vulgarity,” Lowry told ABC’s “This Week.” “He said shouse, and not s-hole.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill., photo left on facing page), who, like Perdue, was at the meeting, has publicly confirmed the derogatory and Norway comments were made, and he called the slur “hate-filled, vile and racist.”
In addition, Sen. Tim Scott said fellow South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was there, told him the reported remark was “basically accurate.”
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz., photo far right), also
said Sunday lawmakers who were in the room told him about the vulgar comment before it was reported publicly.
The President, according to reports, made the slur after lawmakers presented him with a bipartisan deal to restore protections against deportation for young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children — which Trump rejected.
But Perdue insisted the nasty comment was not uttered and accused Durbin of lying about the exchange.
“What did happen in that meeting was a very constructive conversation about how to move forward,” he said.
Regarding the proposed deal to allow young immigrants to remain in the country after Trump terminated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Perdue added, “It’s not a serious proposal.”
Another Republican senator who was in the meeting, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, said Sunday he “didn’t hear” Trump use the term. “I didn’t hear that word, either,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I didn’t hear it, and I was sitting no further away from Donald Trump than Dick Durbin was.” Perdue and Cotton had previously said they didn’t remember the comments. Trump’s homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, was even less firm, saying she didn’t “recall him saying that exact phrase.” “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace pressed her on how that was possible, saying, “It is pretty shocking language, and to say ‘I don’t recall’ seems implausible.” “I don’t recall that specific phrase being used, that’s all I can say about that,” she replied.
Trump, while denying the comments, has admitted his language was harsh.
Lawmakers from both parties have condemned Trump’s remarks, and the chorus of condemnation continued Sunday.
“I think he is a racist,” said Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and icon of the civil rights movement.
Lewis said on ABC’s “This Week” that it’s impossible to reconcile the President’s words with those of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday is celebrated with a national holiday Monday.
“It’s just impossible. There’s not any way you can do that. It’s unreal. It’s unbelievable. It makes me sad. It makes me cry,” he said.
Rep. Mia Love, the first Haitian-American member of Congress, said she also believed the President’s statements were racist.
“I think they were, yes,” the Utah Republican said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I can’t defend the indefensible. You have to understand that there are countries that struggle out there. But their people, their people are good people.”
She said the news upset her parents, who once met Vice President Pence and told him they were praying for him.
“It was heartbreaking for them,” Love said Sunday.