Maggie Haberman: Trump Joked About Taking Immigrants From ‘Nice’ Predominantly White Countries At Closed-Door Event

New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman reported that former President Donald Trump laughed and joked at a private event about welcoming immigrants from “nice” countries — that are also predominantly White — like “Denmark, Switzerland,” and “Norway.”

Trump has never been subtle on the topic of immigration, but even for him, the Oval Office “shithole countries” moment was shocking to many and resulted in April Ryan repeatedly asking Trump, “Mr. Trump, are you a racist?” during a White House event.

In a new article from the well-sourced Haberman and Michael Gold, somebody at a private Trump fundraiser in West Palm Beach anonymously spilled a clutch of Trump quotes to the billionaires in attendance — including a reference to that controversy:

He then appeared to refer to an episode during his presidency when he drew significant criticism after an Oval Office meeting with federal lawmakers about immigration during which he described Haiti and some nations in Africa as “shithole countries,” compared with places like Norway.

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

He continued, “And you know, they took that as a very terrible comment, but I felt it was fine.”

Haberman teased out the subtext with a description of the event’s location, noting that “Mr. Paulson’s estate sits along the waterway that separates the town of Palm Beach — a wealthy community on a barrier island that, according to the Census Bureau, is 93.8 percent white — from West Palm Beach, where nearly a third of residents are Black and a quarter are Hispanic.”

Haberman noted the Trump campaign “did not address the specific quotes” when contacted for the story.