Ex-president avoided past ‘shithole countries’ racist invective, but said the US hadn’t gotten enough immigrants from ‘nice countries’

Donald Trump bemoaned a lack of immigrants to the US from “nice” countries “like Denmark [or] Switzerland”, offering millionaire donors at a Florida fundraiser a reprise of infamous racist Oval Office remarks about people coming to America from “shithole countries”.

Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president again, despite facing 88 criminal charges and multimillion-dollar civil penalties for tax fraud and defamation, the latter arising from a rape allegation a judge called “substantially true”.

According to the New York Times, which cited an unnamed attendee at the Saturday event in Palm Beach, Trump told his audience: “These are people coming in from prisons and jails. They’re coming in from just unbelievable places and countries, countries that are a disaster.

“And when I said, you know, ‘Why can’t we allow people to come in from nice countries,’ I’m trying to be nice. Nice countries, you know like Denmark, Switzerland? Do we have any people coming in from Denmark? How about Switzerland? How about Norway?”

  • @dhork
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    1988 months ago

    He’s complaining that people don’t want to leave countries with socialized health care and more protections for workers? Maybe he is coming to the wrong conclusions about that.

    • AggressivelyPassive
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      1118 months ago

      Paying 420€ per month at most for comprehensive healthcare and 49€ per month for regional/urban public transportation nationwide is really a chore.

      And additionally, I even have to live with the burden of getting my master’s degree almost for free! It’s horrible over here! I can barely enjoy my 30 vacation days thinking about the situation!

      • @ours
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        558 months ago

        And don’t you just hate the absurdly low chance of being victim of a violent crime?

        If only we figured out if those had any link to the social nets.

      • @pyrate37
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        108 months ago

        Without the privilege of crushing debt and social unrest? Inconceivable! You poor bastards!

        • Murica
        • @[email protected]
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          78 months ago

          Fun Fact: the Reaganites literally decided to create student debt to stop poor people from having higher expectations from life

        • @[email protected]
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          48 months ago

          I consolidated my AR15 and new Ford F350 into one EZ loan of 29.99% APR and 297 months! Yeeehaw!!!

          • @[email protected]
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            28 months ago

            Calm down, ARs are very affordable.

            Unless you want all the options…

            And you’re a damn commie if’n you don’t. Might as well buy an AK!

            Actually, yeah, toss an AK on there too, they’re pretty fun.

      • Flying Squid
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        78 months ago

        Sure, but how many dozens of guns can you buy immediately with just a simple background check missing tons of information?

      • @grue
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        58 months ago

        I can barely enjoy my 30 vacation days thinking about the situation!

        Username checks out.

  • TomMasz
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    1078 months ago

    To them, the US is the shithole country, that’s why.

    • @No_Ones_Slick_Like_Gaston
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      588 months ago

      My cousin in the Schengen area got breast cancer and went off to get treatment with 80% of her salary. After the first rounds feeling much better asked the social worker to go back and the answer was, not until you get to the last round and get medical clearance.
      Try that in the US.
      That shit radicalized me.

      • @[email protected]
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        148 months ago

        You go to work while getting the treatment and hope you don’t run out of sick days.

        Or make industrial quantities of meth.

    • @[email protected]
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      148 months ago

      I’m from Australia, not some poncy nordic utopia. I wouldn’t describe the US as a shithole country per se, but I sure as shit wouldn’t want to move there.

      The whole republican thing does make me apoplectic, and admittedly that’s pretty much all we see from this far away, but I acknowledge that its probably not a big part of daily life. For example, there’s some 4x4 youtube channels I watch and the people just seem like cool normal people who I’d probably like to know in real life, but I’d bet they vote republican anyway.

      • @Gradually_Adjusting
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        148 months ago

        During his presidency, it actually was a part of daily life. We all had to endure a constant drumbeat of headlines about horrible things he did or said until you almost stopped caring. It would be like that again if he gets reelected.

    • @FJT
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      -78 months ago

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  • @Bimbleby
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    938 months ago

    As a person from Denmark; I’m fine thanks.

  • ShadowRam
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    728 months ago

    You could double my income, even triple.

    …and I still wouldn’t risk rising my children in the US.

    Not a fucking chance…

    • @[email protected]
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      218 months ago

      Literally, had to make this decision four years ago.

      In the end I went to the German branch of the same tech company and only made 1/4 the money I would have in the US.

      However, because it was a US company they made me do the “what to do when there’s a shooter in the workplace” training course anyway. No regrets about not going.

    • @[email protected]
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      168 months ago

      I think the same… And I live in Canada, we don’t have it as good as Denmark or Switzerland but still…

      I honestly only go to the States for short visits I dread, because we have family there… Otherwise I wouldn’t even visit

      • @FJT
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        -98 months ago

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  • @[email protected]
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    608 months ago

    Why on god’s green earth would I relocate to a country that treats people like farm animals unless I was fleeing war or drug cartels?

    • Rusty Shackleford
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      78 months ago

      Every government treats their people like farm-animals, in my opinion. Some are nicer to their animals than others. “Happy cows make better-tasting milk”, and so on.

      My country’s (the US) government treats us like those industrial hog and cattle farms we have in Nebraska, Louisiana, Texas, etc. I moved to the Netherlands in July of '22; people are treated more like free-range live-stock here, which is an improvement from my condition in the US. I imagine it’s not too dissimilar of a relationship throughout greater Scandinavia as well.

      • @[email protected]
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        88 months ago

        Every government treats their people like farm-animals, in my opinion.

        Yeah, no. That’s not how normal governments work.

        My country’s (the US)

        Yeah, that checks out. No wonder you think like that, then. You’ve been indoctrinated all your life to believe no better alternative is possible, so that you won’t strive for one, and will just keep on accepting the monstrously inhumane society you were born in.

        • Rusty Shackleford
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          8 months ago

          Yeah, no. That’s not how normal governments work.

          That’s admirable you believe that, but incredibly naive, given the weight of history.

          You’ve been indoctrinated all your life to believe no better alternative is possible, so that you won’t strive for one, and will just keep on accepting the monstrously inhumane society you were born in.

          No, like all human beings, I must pragmatically hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Time with my wife and the children in my extended family is worth more than overthrowing the government, currently.

    • @[email protected]
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      38 months ago

      Because we’re doing the Second Civil War arc in a few, it’ll be fun and/or destroy humanity itself!

    • @FJT
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  • Jaysyn
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    538 months ago

    Why the fuck would they want to come here?

    • Flying Squid
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      128 months ago

      There are stupid right-wing people in every country.

      • Jaysyn
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        98 months ago

        Judging by Lord Lard-Ass’ complaints, they still don’t want to come here.

        • Flying Squid
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          48 months ago

          Maybe, but it’s not like anything he ever says is based on evidence.

      • @FJT
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        -88 months ago

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      • @Passerby6497
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        68 months ago

        It is to plenty of us that live here, too.

  • @ben_dover
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    528 months ago

    Why would someone go from a “nice” country to the US? People want to improve their situation

    • @FJT
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      -98 months ago

      Good point, Canada too, stay the fuck out!

      • @RageAgainstTheRich
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        18 months ago

        Just wanted to say, please move your conservative ass back to twitter or something. We want to keep Lemmy nice 😊

    • @laughterlaughter
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      -178 months ago

      The U.S. is not some homogeneous entity. It’s huge. It has its bad regions, but it also has its awesome regions as well. Just like the U.K.

      • XIIIesq
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        318 months ago

        You’re missing the point.

        People don’t up sticks and move across the world for the fun of it. They do it because they seek a better life, the US mostly can’t offer that for people who already live in an advanced country.

        Like wise, if you don’t want immigrants from “shit hole” countries, your options are to help make their own country better so that they won’t want to leave or to make your own country shitter than theirs so that they won’t want to come.

        • @samus12345
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          138 months ago

          or to make your own country shitter than theirs so that they won’t want to come.

          Republicans are certainly trying!

          • @FJT
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            -108 months ago

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        • @FJT
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          -98 months ago

          Removed by mod

        • @laughterlaughter
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          8 months ago

          I moved to Germany for the fun of it (you could say that I was seeking a better life, I guess.)

          I’ve also moved across states in the U.S. for the fun it.

          It can happen.

          I’m aware that a whole lot of people do it for different reasons, though.

          And yeah, I find it funny when Americans complain about migrants from, say, Central America. They should learn the role the U.S. played in destabilizing the region in the 80s.

      • @BonesOfTheMoon
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        158 months ago

        But it has no social safety nets really which is what “nice white countries” tend to have. Who wants to move somewhere without universal health care from a place that does?

        And also about half the population is certifiable.

        • @laughterlaughter
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          18 months ago

          You have a point.

          And no, not half of the population. Maybe half of the voting population. The newer generations are less tolerant of the ongoing GOP bullshit.

          Twice in a row Donald Trump lost the popular vote, by millions of people.

    • @[email protected]
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      158 months ago

      I live in Spain. I’ve lived in the US. There is literally no reason to go to the US except to visit of for tourism. Quality of life, and having an excellent health care system, good wather, basically no gun problems (contrary to popular belief, I can own a lot of types of guns, even non-auto assault guns, they are just properly regulated) etc. I’m very employable , and would probably make 2-3 times as much as here, but have no real incentive.

      • @jordanlund
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        78 months ago

        That’s the thing most Americans cannot grasp… money isn’t everything.

        • @FJT
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        • من البحر إلى النهر
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          8 months ago

          Nowhere as much as Qatar or Saudi Arabia, yet they aren’t on the list. UAE should be higher up than Oman too but it isn’t.

          Perhaps what helps Oman are other things besides oil and gas revenues. Perhaps their lush greenery and ancient frankincense trees.

          • @jordanlund
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            28 months ago

            SA is on the list, just ahead of the US, but yeah, I get where you’re coming from.

      • @[email protected]
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        78 months ago

        As I understand it they are exceptionally stable and have been building themselves up since the colonial period. The sultan of Oman didnt live in Zanzibar for nothin’.

        • من البحر إلى النهر
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          28 months ago

          No more stable than any other Gulf countries. But they aren’t involved in any proxy wars and always maintained friendly relations with everyone including Iran.

    • @FJT
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      • @jordanlund
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        28 months ago

        I cut off the list at 173 because I only wanted to show countries higher than the US.

        Canada ranks surprisingly lower at 156.40. I’m not sure why. Maybe the temperatures / treatment of first nations people.

  • @[email protected]
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    448 months ago

    Ironically (to everyone but him) Trump himself is the reason a lot of people from the “good” countries would never consider moving here.

    • @[email protected]
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      48 months ago

      Nah, that orange furuncle’s just a symptom, the disease clearly reaches much deeper and is probably terminal.

    • @calcopiritus
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      28 months ago

      I decided to never go there way before I knew trump. Don’t want my dog to die from a bullet.

  • horse
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    348 months ago

    Could it be that America was the “shithole country” all along? 🤔

    • @[email protected]
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      48 months ago

      What? No, we are the greatest country in the world. I know because of 13 years of my youth spent in public school where they kept telling me about it.

  • @[email protected]
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    328 months ago

    LMFAO, easy answer - because those countries are demonstrably better than the shit hole that is the United States.

    God this fuckin turd just doesn’t shut up and the rest of us are forced to hear about it. Enough already.

    • @FJT
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  • @gmtom
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    8 months ago

    Lmao reminds me of my company. They are headquartered in the US, but have a big office in the UK, and about twice a year someone from the US office comes over to try and recruit us to go over there. And every time no one goes, even though they’re offering us almost twice the equivalent salary to go over, between the women, the queers, non-white people, there’s not a lot of people left that wouldn’t been instantly downgraded the second they stepped off the plane. And out of those left most will care about healthcare or vacation time and uprooting their lives more than a better salary.

    • @mlg
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      228 months ago

      Not to mention the infara change would feel like such a downgrade.

      Imagine moving to Houston or Atlanta and learning the horror that you must travel to work every single day in a car in traffic for 2-3 hours, and any commercial business is going to be more than a mile away from your home.

      • @gmtom
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        48 months ago

        Yeah, im on holiday in Dallas right now and its so bad. The nearest convenience store is over an hours walk away, and if I wanted to go to a supermarket its an almost 40 min walk to a bus stop, and a 20 minute bus ride on a bus that comes once per hour.

  • @frickineh
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    288 months ago

    Uh, on that note, anyone from any nice countries want to get married to an American? Doesn’t have to be majority white, but must have healthcare and like, trains? I like trains and going to the doctor.

    • @[email protected]
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      38 months ago

      My brother-in-law and his wife made the reverse thing. He went to the US as a student (IIRC), met his future wife, they came back here, and now she is happy to be a German citizen.

    • @BonesOfTheMoon
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      28 months ago

      Do you like Canada? And middle aged women? We kind of have trains but it’s nothing to write home about.

      • @frickineh
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        48 months ago

        I’ve never been but I’ve heard good things about most of it. And I’m a middle aged woman, so sure!

      • @frickineh
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        18 months ago

        I don’t know what that emoji means?

          • @frickineh
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            18 months ago

            Uh, I was literally specifying that I don’t care about the color of people’s skin. Because of the headline of the article. Jesus.

  • @Viking_Hippie
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    8 months ago

    despite facing 88 criminal charges

    Who here wanna bet that Stephen Miller advised him do a couple more or fewer in order to land at his favorite number?

    • @[email protected]
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      38 months ago

      It was at 91 last I heard so if they’ve only gone through 3 in 4 years he’ll be 200 by the time they’re done