As the clamor around President Donald Trump‘s reported “shithole” comments grew over the weekend, the president proclaimed them a non-issue on Monday, announcing he’s not a racist.
#Trump on the eve of Martin Luther King Day: "No, no, I'm not a racist. I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed. That I can tell you" #MLK #MLKDay #MLKDay2018 pic.twitter.com/KPAK4QqUW6
— Dr. Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) January 15, 2018
“No, no, I’m not a racist. I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly used this line of response when questioned by reporters. When pressed in February by a Jewish reporter over claims of anti-Semitism in his administration, he said, “I am the least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life. No. 2, racism, the least racist person.”
“I hate the charge, I find it repulsive,” he added during those comments, calling the question “insulting.”
He has also broadly proclaimed he’s the “least racist” person ever in June 2016.
Mitt Romney had his chance to beat a failed president but he choked like a dog. Now he calls me racist-but I am least racist person there is
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2016
Trump’s comments come as Republicans have attempted to shift the narrative over Trump’s reported words. Doing the Sunday rounds, both Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) denied that Trump used that language. Previously, both had said that they could not recall Trump using language like that.
It’s likely they are dancing around the answer, as some are claiming that perhaps Trump said “shithouse” and not “shithole,” giving the senators an out. The president, for his part, has openly said that he used “tough” language.
The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made – a big setback for DACA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
Trump on Monday continued to throw fire into the immigration fight, declaring a deal for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) dead, and placing the blame again on Democrats.