U.S. President Donald Trump once more used disparaging language about migrants from certain developing nations and said he would prefer newcomers from Scandinavia, according to Dagens Nyheter and other outlets.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Perry, Georgia, on Saturday ahead of the midterm elections, Trump returned to one of his most controversial remarks from 2018. This time, Dagens Nyheter reports, he called the countries in question "shithouse countries" rather than "shithole countries," and described them as "riddled with terrorism."
Why it matters
The episode puts immigration back at the center of the president's campaign message in the final stretch before the midterms. Dagens Nyheter notes that the call for Scandinavian immigrants is a recurring theme for Trump, who raised the same idea in a speech last year as well.
What he said
At the rally, Trump listed several countries by name and asked the crowd whether they remembered the term he had used for them, according to Dagens Nyheter.
He named Libya, Yemen, Haiti and Somalia, then questioned why the United States should keep accepting people from what he called the third world. In the same passage, he asked why the country could not instead admit people from Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
Dagens Nyheter reports that the remarks drew on his 2018 comments, when he used the cruder phrase "shithole countries" to describe certain nations. The president has now revived the language with a slight variation, calling them "shithouse countries," and added the claim that they are "riddled with terrorism."
A familiar line
The preference for Nordic newcomers is not new in Trump's rhetoric. According to Dagens Nyheter, he has made the point before, including during a speech in the past year, making it one of his standing talking points on immigration.
The rally in Perry took place on Saturday, the day before Dagens Nyheter published its report, and was framed as part of the president's push ahead of the midterm elections.
Watch for how the remarks are received in the Nordic countries and whether the White House or the Trump campaign expands on them in the days before the vote.
