Donald Trump's Latest Message To His Supporters Just Coined A New Strange Phrase
The shadow of Donald Trump still looms large months after his White House exit in January, and perhaps one of the best examples of how the 45th president's legacy has continued to function in a way seemingly by his design is in the U.S. response to immigration. Trump, who used anti-immigration fearmongering by way of his promises to build a wall between the U.S.-Mexico border to sway voters in 2016, stuck strictly to this platform for the entirety of his presidency, despite public outcry against the tactics employed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and conditions at both the border and detainment camps. (Organizations like Amnesty International have accused Trump of human rights violations and for "criminalizing those fleeing persecution and violence in their own countries.")
While detainment centers and such ilk were in place and denounced by activists well before Trump took office, the general consensus is that the handling of immigration by the Trump administration took it to the extreme — and not in a good way.
Now, it seems Trump is once again voicing his opinions on immigration in the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, which killed hundreds and displaced thousands in August, spurring many to seek refuge in the U.S. He also managed to coin an odd new phrase while doing so — one that could maybe even rival his predecessor President George W. Bush's "nucular" gaffe. Read on below to find out more.
Donald Trump used the odd phrase 'cesspool of humanity' to describe humans
Referring to undocumented immigrants by the outdated and bigoted term "illegal aliens," Donald Trump wrote in an email on September 19 ostensibly sent to the New York Post and other publications from his post-presidential office that "the largest number [of refugees] in the history of our Country are pouring in by the millions." He then added that the U.S. "is rapidly becoming a cesspool of humanity," and that the situation at the border is now a "Crisis Crisis" rather than a border crisis which, per the Post, Trump claimed was exacerbated by approximately 14,000 Haitians who have sought refuge, however dismal, in Texas. (Per the Post, President Joe Biden has planned to return them to Haiti, despite the crisis in the country post-earthquake — a move which Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry has positively responded to, promising those returning that they would be welcomed and "not be left behind.")
While Trump's statement focused mostly on immigration, the term "cesspool of humanity" used to describe Americans is an odd turn of phrase, considering that the word "humanity" is used to positively denote the goodness in humankind and "cesspool" is used to describe a pool of literal filth. Translating it more directly, "cesspool of humanity" to describe the innate humanness of people — in this case, Americans as a whole — is a head-scratcher. While it might not be on par with "covfefe," it is certainly puzzling.