Charlie Pierce weighs in on Trump's "shithole" countries comments.
[R]ight now, there are 6,000 American soldiers stationed all over Africa in places like Niger, where four Americans were killed from ambush last fall, and Mali, as well as in Cameroon, and in Somalia and Djibouti, on the eastern side of the continent. There has been an American military presence in Djibouti for longer than anywhere else in Africa. The country needs cooperation from these countries in fighting terrorist groups like Boko Haram and what’s left of al Qaeda. By allowing the American military into their country, these governments put bullseyes on themselves. This is what they get in return? And we probably shouldn’t forget that some of the countries in this hemisphere remain devastated at least partly because of American military meddling over the past century.
In addition, according to The New York Times, the Norwegians are outraged at having been drawn into the president*’s psychoses uninvited. I mean, there they were, laying in supplies in preparation to watch their countrymen kick the world’s ass at the Winter Olympics when suddenly, they get dragooned into whatever twisted drama is playing out in the president*’s mind this week.
Charles P Pierce
Oh, hell. I knew he'd said F-52s, but the account I read speculated it was because that was the number of F-35s sold. Could it be that one of the things Trump is doing in his so-called "executive time" before he leaves the residence around 11am each day to go to work is playing "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare"? I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.[S]everal prominent Norwegians who were still online took to Twitter [last night] to vent their outrage and disgust, not only at Mr. Trump’s vulgar language but at what many saw as a racially tinged insult.
[...]
Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s visit to Washington to meet Mr. Trump — where they held a joint news conference on Wednesday at the White House — was big news in Norway, and the encounter had not gone without a hitch: Mr. Trump pointed to the sale of American-made “F-52s and F-35 fighter jets,” a remark that puzzled many listeners since there is no such thing as an F-52 fighter jet. (There are F-52s in the video game “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.”)
NYT
Yeah, we know.Helge Ogrim, a veteran journalist who used to cover the United States for the Norwegian News Agency, said of Mr. Trump’s latest remark: “It falls into a pattern of nativist and very unpleasant language from a poorly qualified president, if not worse. President Trump seems to relish in derogatory remarks about others and praise for himself. This incident, just after his blunder with the fictional ‘F-52’ planes, further lowers the respect for his office and for the U.S. abroad.”
But, back to Charlie:Mr. Trump was then rebuked on Friday by the United Nations human rights office, which described his comments as dangerous racism that opened the door to humanity’s worst characteristics.
“These are shocking and shameful comments from the president of the United States,” Rupert Colville, a spokesman for Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva. “Sorry, there is no other word one can use but racist.”
But they certainly seem to have embraced him.I’m truly not sure how long the institutions of government can withstand this daily insanity. The executive branch is a chew-toy. The legislative majorities seem willing to cooperate in their own institutional destruction. There has been some pushback on the lower levels of the federal court system. But, for 30 years, by fair means and foul, the Republicans have been arranging things to produce a one-party corporate state. Now, they have it, or something close to it, except that a half-senile, racist old bag of guts got elected to run it, which is not something they planned on.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
UPDATE:
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