In a meeting with members of Congress on Thursday, President Trump became angry after it was suggested that, as part of an immigration deal, protections would be extended for some immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries. “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump asked, according to a Washington Post report. He then suggested that the United States take more immigrants from countries like Norway.
Trump’s comments were widely derided as racist on national TV. Several Republicans, including a congresswoman from Utah, have called on Trump to apologize.
But there is one group that is embracing Trump’s comments wholeheartedly: white supremacists.
Christopher Cantwell, a white supremacist organizer who is being charged with assaulting counter-protesters in Charlottesville, praised Trump’s comments on Gab, a social network that caters to online racists.
Trump was also praised on Gab by Jared Wyand, a white nationalist who was banned from Twitter for anti-Semitic posts, endorsed Trump’s comments and added that “blacks are incapable of building thriving civil societies.”
Trump’s comments were also popular on Stormfront, a message board for white supremacists. One user said Trump was absolutely right to trash “non-white” countries.
Another user said that Trump only said what “everyone is thinking.”
Meanwhile, White House officials told journalists that they weren’t worried about Trump’s comments because they would be popular with his base.