US president’s world view leaves world aghast

● “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” With these words on Thursday, US President Donald Trump won fresh global opprobrium.

He was questioning senators in an Oval Office meeting about why the US accepts immigrants from “shithole countries” like Haiti, El Salvador and African nations rather than places like Norway.

The comment earned Trump a rebuke from UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville, who said: “There is no other word one can use but ‘racist’.”

The Gaborone government summoned the US ambassador, Earl Miller, on Friday and asked for clarification on whether Botswana was regarded as a “shithole” country.

Later, African countries at the UN unanimously demanded a retraction and an apology, at the same time thanking those Americans “from all walks of life who have condemned the remarks”.

Trump’s comment came at the end of a week in which Michael Wolff’s book about the president’s administration, Fire and Fury, leapt to the top of bestseller lists. Trump called the book “boring and untruthful”, although since Wolff pointed out that Trump “doesn’t listen and doesn’t read”, it wasn’t clear how he knew this.