There’s a racist in the Oval Office. That’s the only conclusion one can draw from US President Donald Trump’s latest rant on immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and 50-plus African nations he lumped together as “shithole countries” recently. As a candidate, he had the vilest things to say about Mexicans and others. But people felt that once in the White House he would imbibe lessons on proper behaviour. Surprisingly, the White House didn’t even initially deny the report about his racist comment, and then began a damage control exercise. It’s hardly new: his sustained campaign against “kneeling” black football players had reflected his views on race. Earlier in an eventful week, Mr Trump also declared himself a “stable genius” and declared the Russian links probe would pass him by.
Mr Trump’s intolerant, prejudiced worldview flies in the face of several home truths on racial diversity. One of every three women and one in every five men in the US military are African-Americans. An immediate fallout of his views — although he belatedly denied the “shithole” comment, saying Sunday “I’m not a racist” — is certain to make life uncertain for nearly a million people known as “Dreamers” (undocumented aliens brought to the US as children) as the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is likely to be junked. The US President’s global credibility may be at a new low as he prepares to head for Davos next week. But that’s of little consolation to immigrants as none of them will sleep peacefully in a diverse land built by a rainbow coalition of races.
