CNN analyst: Trump saying immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, and Africa come from “shithole countries” is “straight up racist”

John Avlon: “This is beyond unbefitting of the presidency which it is. ... This is straight up racist.”

From the January 11 edition of CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper

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JOHN AVLON: This is beyond unbefitting of the presidency which it is. This is beyond unpresidential, this is beyond, oh, the big tent Republican Party dream has died. This is straight up racist. People talk about and they defend the president. They say, “he's not racist,” “that's an unfair accusation,” “the left always is quick to play the race card,” but according to two people who were briefed on this meeting, he referred to immigrants and people who've gotten asylum here from El Salvador, Haiti, and African countries as living in shitholes. OK, and then [he reportedly said] “we need more people from Norway instead.” I wonder what the real difference is? Yeah, wealth, also whiteness. That's an ugly underbelly that's been exposed and we need to confront it and we can't sugarcoat it. 

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