Donald Trump has unleashed a new political and media storm by reiterating one of his most insulting comments against immigrants.
At a rally in Pennsylvania this Tuesday, the President of the United States once again openly questioned why his country "only accepts people from shithole countries", provoking a wave of reactions due to the xenophobic and racist nature of his rhetoric.
"Why do we only accept people from crappy countries?"
During a speech to his supporters, Trump not only repeated a comment he had denied making years ago, but he also proudly reaffirmed it.
“Why do we only accept people from shithole countries? Why can't we bring people from Norway, Sweden...? Just a few, bring some from Denmark.”, he said before a crowd that applauded amid laughter.
The phrase is not new, but the defiant tone with which she uttered it is, this time without any pretense or nuance.
The president reminisced about the famous 2018 meeting with lawmakers at the White House, during which outlets like The Washington Post and The New York Times reported that Trump had used the same term to refer to Haiti, El Salvador, and other African nations.
Then he publicly denied it. Now, in 2025, he repeats it and boasts.
“We always accept people from Somalia”, he continued on Tuesday, referring to that country as “filthy, dirty, repugnant, plagued by crime.”
The controversial question has sparked a lot of debate on social media.
"The answer is obvious, the Swedes and Norwegians don't go to shithole countries... Thanks to Trump, in less than a year the U.S. has become a shithole country," alleged an internet user on X.
"The answer is simple and you don't have to be very smart: the Norwegians or Swedes are not going to leave their country to go to your shitty United States!" another added.
A supremacist view of migration
The words of the Republican leader align with his vision of "selective" or "meritocratic" immigration, where only individuals from countries he deems "desirable" should be admitted.
“Repugnant places filled with crime” is how he described many of the nations of those seeking a new life in the United States.
The implication is clear and refers to another post made on Truth Social on Thanksgiving: immigrants from poor countries or the so-called Third World are not welcome.
At his rally, Trump triumphantly announced a “permanent pause on Third World migration,” including countries such as “Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, and many others.”
This approach has been widely criticized by human rights organizations, international leaders, and even members of his own party in the past.
In 2018, the president of Senegal expressed his "surprise" at such statements, demanding respect for Africa and the Black race.
The return of an old scandal
It is worth recalling that in January 2018, during the heated debate over immigration reform, Trump stated, “Why do we have all these people from these shithole countries coming here?” referring to Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations.
At the same time, he advocated for receiving immigrants from "countries like Norway."
Although he denied it on social media at the time, claiming it was a " fabrication of the Democrats," the White House did not refute the comments. In fact, then-spokesman Raj Shah defended that the president was seeking a merit-based immigration system, like other developed countries.
In that same meeting, according to The New York Times, Trump reportedly said that Haitians "have AIDS" and that Nigerians would not return "to their huts" if they saw the United States. The White House then denied these claims.
Trump's aversion to Europe
But Trump didn't just attack immigrants from the Global South on Tuesday. He also slammed Europe and its immigration policies.
“Europe is a group of declining countries led by weak leaders,” he declared, resuming a discourse of distrust towards America's traditional allies.
He even warned that Brussels' decisions regarding immigration "will be its end," distancing himself from a continent that was once considered a strategic partner.
The Republican reiterated that what separates him more from Europe than what connects him.
Such statements are not new in Trumpist rhetoric.
Since his first term, the American president has been building an isolationist vision of the world, in which the United States stands as a self-sufficient power, disengaged from multilateral commitments or historical alliances.
Foreign policy in the “showman” style
In an attempt to demonstrate international leadership, Trump also referred to the military escalation between Thailand and Cambodia. He stated that he will personally call the leaders of both countries "to prevent a war between two very powerful nations."
"I regret to say this [...] Cambodia and Thailand clashed today (new confrontations), and tomorrow I will have to make a phone call," he said, prompting applause from the audience.
"Who else can say they will make a call and stop a war?" he asked his followers in a rhetorical tone.
The conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, which reignited a historical territorial dispute, was described by Trump as one of the eight conflicts that "has ended" since his return to power in January.
Between provocation and strategy
The president's outbursts are not the result of chance. They are part of a communication strategy that has kept him at the center of the American political debate since his emergence in the presidential campaign of 2015.
His provocative style, which deliberately breaks with the norms of political decorum, has earned him both the devotion of an ultraconservative base and the condemnation of his critics.
Recently, he has started using profanity in public again and employing derogatory terms. During Thanksgiving, he referred to a Democratic governor with a disrespectful insult aimed at individuals with intellectual disabilities.
When asked by a journalist if he stood by his words, his response was: "Yes. I believe something bad is happening to him."
Trump's new statements reopen a profound debate about institutional racism. His words not only insult millions of people around the world, but also reinforce dangerous stigmas that fuel discrimination and hatred.
The idea that some countries—and therefore their citizens—are intrinsically better than others is the very foundation of racial supremacy.
The recurrence of these comments, rather than being a slip, confirms that they are structurally embedded in his political discourse.
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