“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Do people even really understand what our president is saying? Look, I'm not angry because he calls places "shitholes". I'm a first generation immigrant. I come from a shithole. I lived 10 years in a shithole. I'll freely call it a shithole. I won't get offended if you call it a shithole! It's a shithole! Happy? But how DARE he use my origin as an excuse to demand an additional reason to explain my presence here? Why is it up to me (but not say, a white Norwegian) to provide some extra level of justification for why I deserve the chance to be an American? If these places really are shitholes, shouldn't there be an even greater obligation to help people who come from there, specifically because they're in the most danger? Apparently not. Because Trump sincerely believes that some people do, and some people do not deserve the chance to be Americans, and your birthplace (and by extension, your race) is a key deciding factor in whether you deserve the chance to be an American. Notice that he did not ask "Why are we letting in poor people?" or "Why are we letting in people without degrees?" or "Why are we letting in people with criminal histories" or "Why are we letting in people who refuse to learn English?". No, let's cut the crap, already, because deep down, we know damn well that he's not talking about merit, or even about your place of origin. After everything you've seen, who do you think Trump is more likely to feel is more deserving citizenship? One of those scary Muslims that are "taking over" Norway, or a white South African? Cuz I got a feeling that when he's looking at those people, the calculus for determining whether their home countries count as "shitholes" suddenly changes. Trump is practically saying "America is for white people. The rest are interlopers until proven otherwise. Until someone explains to me WHY they're even allowed here." Let's not forget either, that in this particular situation, he's not even talking about illegal immigrants. He doesn't get to even use that old fig-leaf. He's talking about a reconfiguration of who we even allow the chance to become legal, through all the proper channels, not based on merit, not based on national security, not based on employability, but specifically targeted against the people he happens to hate. And yet, the media is taking the bait. Already they rush to obfuscate the issue, to absolve him of the real evil of his comment by focusing on the "inappropriate word" he used. Already, we're having these dumb conversations like "Well, he denied that he said that exact word, but he said she said that he did!" or "Well, to be fair, Haiti isn't exactly a nice place to live, he's just saying what everyone thinks privately, and he just chose a colorful word to describe it...", and instead of focusing on the racism, we just go "Oh, but look at the pretty beaches of Haiti! It's not a shithole! Look at the natural beauty and rich culture of-" SHUT THE FUCK UP! What bearing does that debate have on anything?!? As if Trump's greatest sin is his vocabulary and not watching the Travel Channel? What our president said today isn't just boorish, it isn't just cruel. It betrays a deep and insidious level of racism that can only be described as white supremacy. Again. This is a pattern, don't forget. But in this instance, he is literally throwing a tantrum because the "wrong people" are enjoying the benefit of immigration. And it is so depressing and so terrifying, that even Trump's opponents - the people who represent the best hope we got to survive this regime - are just gonna waltz past that and chide him for his language. If I'm the one from the shithole, how come Americans are so stupid that they keep falling for this crap over and over?