In 2018, Donald Trump denied using the term “shithole” to describe countries whose citizens sought to emigrate to the United States. Today, he openly embraces the phrase and has intensified his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
During a rally in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, the 79-year-old Republican shifted from economic policy to a tirade that reignited the controversy from his first term. Addressing a cheering crowd, Trump repeated the slur and contrasted immigrants from African nations with those from Scandinavia.
“We had a meeting and I said, ‘Why is it we only take people from shithole countries? Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden?’” Trump declared. He then singled out Somalia, calling it “a disaster, filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.” He has recently referred to Somali immigrants as “trash.”
The remarks drew sharp criticism. Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey called them further proof of Trump’s “racist, anti-immigrant agenda.” Florida Republican Randy Fine defended Trump, arguing that “not all cultures are equal and not all countries are equal,” and praised his bluntness.
Carl Bon Tempo, a history professor at the University of Albany, noted that such rhetoric has long existed on the far-right but said its amplification from the White House gives it unprecedented reach. “There’s no bigger megaphone in American politics,” he explained.
Trump’s language echoes past statements on the campaign trail. In 2023, he told supporters in New Hampshire that immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country,” a remark that drew comparisons to Adolf Hitler.
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