As an American of Norwegian descent, I deeply resent President Trump’s recent statement, calling Haiti a “shithole country” and then in the same breath saying he wants more immigrants from Norway. That is not a compliment to Norwegians; it’s just a disgusting way to talk.
But let’s look at what he said. By “shithole” I assume he means that Haiti is economically poor, and that’s certainly true. Nevertheless, Haitians have an inspiring tradition of fighting for liberty, one that we can all envy. In 1804 they held history’s only successful slave rebellion, freeing themselves from the French plantation owners. Unfortunately, it’s a tradition which the U.S. and other imperial powers have refused to honor, and Haiti has been repeatedly invaded and forced into an ongoing struggle for freedom, not always with success. We need to honor the enduring Haitian spirit.
Another thing, Haiti is poor because it’s been repeatedly robbed of its resources, suppressed and held down by the U.S. which has maintained brutal dictators such as Poppa Doc and Baby Doc, the Duvaliers. Since the fall of the Duvaliers, the U.S. has manipulated elections and engineered a coup, deposing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. There was also the role of the Clinton Foundation which cashed in on the Haitian earthquake in the guise of providing relief aid — disaster capitalism in action. To call Haiti a “shithole” country is a classic case of blaming the victim.
At the same time, when Trump mentioned Norway, he probably didn’t know that until well into the 20th century, it was about the poorest country in Western Europe. That’s why so many Norwegians, including my family, immigrated to the U.S. Actually, we Norwegians came much later than many. And from the viewpoint of the Native American Indians, we (and all Americans of European origin) are recent immigrants.
An important story that got eclipsed by Trump’s “shithole countries” remark was a U.S. House of Representatives vote to expand the warrantless surveillance of American citizens. Many Democrats as well as Republicans voted for that measure which will further erode our rights and liberties. This comes shortly after the massive tax cuts for the rich, in effect a huge transfer of greater wealth to the wealthy, another milestone along the road towards becoming an impoverished shithole country.
Although that particular tax bill was President Trump’s project, he didn’t do it alone, and the race to the bottom did not start with him, it’s been going on for decades under the leadership of both Republican and Democratic parties. There’s been the neglect of our infrastructure, including railways, public transportation, bridges, as well as our hell-bound educational system. The list is long, very long. I won’t even go into global warming, or the huge massive waste of resources on the military. The wars that go on and on. Add to that the danger of nuclear extinction.
What’s new is that we have a president who speaks, acts, and tweets like a vulgar oaf. No finesse. No façade. What we see is what’s there — Donald Trump is the true undisguised face of the corrupt neoliberal/neocon ruling elite that is turning America into a shithole country.
Impeachment will not resolve our problem. We need to get rid of this whole rotten system and the two parties which represent it.
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