‘Filthy, disgusting’: Trump’s tirade against Somalia, Rep. Ilhan Omar continues

U.S. President Donald Trump admitted Tuesday that he used the slur “sh–hole countries” to disparage Haiti and African nations during a 2018 meeting with lawmakers.

Trump spoke about the comment that sparked outrage during his first term on Tuesday at a rally in Pennsylvania on affordability. He went on to further disparage Somalia as “filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime” while speaking about his administration’s decision to pause immigration from dozens of countries.

“I’ve also announced a permanent pause on Third World migration, including from hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries,” Trump said, before reflecting on his “sh–hole” comment from 2018 after someone in the crowd yelled out the remark.

He went on to speak about the 2018 meeting, saying, “Remember I said that to the senators?

“Our country was going to hell. And we had a meeting and I said, ‘Why is it we only take people from sh–hole countries,’ right? ‘Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden?  — just a few — let us have a few. From Denmark — do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people, do you mind?'”

“But we always take people from Somalia. Places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime,” Trump told rally-goers at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Pa.

While the White House did not deny Trump’s remarks in 2018, Trump posted on X the day after the news broke that “this was not the language I used.”

He also claimed that he “never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country.”

“Never said ‘take them out.’ Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings — unfortunately, no trust,” Trump wrote.

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During his speech on Tuesday, Trump also took aim at Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and suggested that she had come to the U.S. illegally from Somalia.

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“I love this Ilhan Omar, whatever the hell her name is, with the little turban,” Trump said. “I love her. She comes in, does nothing but b—h. She’s always complaining. She comes from her country, where I mean, it’s considered about the worst country in the world, right?”

“They have no military. They have no nothing. They have no parliaments. They don’t know what the hell the word parliament means. They have nothing. They have no police. They police themselves. They kill each other all the time,” Trump said of Somalia before turning his sights back on Omar.

“I love her. She comes to our country and she’s always complaining about ‘the constitution allows me to do this,'” he said while mocking Omar.

“We ought to get her the hell out. She married her brother in order to get in, right? She married her brother. Can you imagine if Donald Trump married his sister? Beautiful. She’s a beautiful person. If I married my sister to get my citizenship, do you think I’d last for about two hours, or would it be something less than that?” Trump continued, repeating a debunked conspiracy theory about Omar.

“She married her brother to get in. Therefore, she’s here illegally. She should get the hell out. Throw her the hell out. She does nothing but complain,” Trump said, as the audience chanted, “Send her back!”

The Minnesota representative has faced rumours for years, alleging that she married her brother to obtain U.S. citizenship. Omar has strongly denied these allegations and called them “absolutely false and ridiculous” in a 2016 statement, where she details her complete marital history. No proof has ever substantiated the claim.

Omar fired back at Trump’s latest comments about her on Tuesday, writing, “Trump’s obsession with me is beyond weird. He needs serious help. Since he has no economic policies to tout, he’s resorting to regurgitating bigoted lies instead.”

“He continues to be a national embarrassment,” Omar added.

Tensions between Trump and Omar have escalated in recent weeks, after Trump stated last week that he did not want “garbage” Somali immigrants in the United States.

Trump claimed that residents of the eastern African country are too reliant on the U.S. social safety net and add little to the United States.

“They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country,” Trump told reporters near the end of a lengthy Cabinet meeting. He added, “Their country is no good for a reason. Your country stinks and we don’t want them in our country.”

4:47 Trump’s remarks on Somalis ‘bigoted, Islamophobic,’ U.S. congresswoman says

Last month, Trump vowed in a social media post to send Somalis “back to where they came from,” and alleged Minnesota, home to the largest Somali community in the United States, is “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”

On Dec. 2, Trump renewed his criticism of Omar, whose family fled the civil war in Somalia and spent several years in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the U.S.

“We can go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way, if we keep taking in garbage into our country,” Trump said. “Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage.”

Omar responded to Trump on social media, saying, “His obsession with me is creepy. I hope he gets the help he desperately needs.”

—With files from The Associated Press