Lee Zeldin Defends Trump’s ‘Shithole’ Comment

Lee Zeldin Image by zeldin for congress

By Nathan Guttman January 12, 2018

Only few Republicans chose to stand up for President Trump after news broke of his derogatory comment, referring to immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and Africa as coming from “shithole” countries.

Among those speaking out in Trump’s defense was New York Republican Lee Zeldin, one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress.

“Pres @realDonaldTrump wasn’t elected for his ability or willingness to be politically correct,” Zeldin tweeted. “The fact is that there are many nations in the world struggling mightily… politically & economically, w poor infrastructure, schools, physical security & more.”

Zeldin explained in another tweet while these “third world nations have some of the worst possible challenges imaginable, they also have certain aspects of culture, tradition, values, & religion, that can be emulated the world over.”

The New York Republican concluded his thread by saying that he is “not here to call for the President’s mouth to be washed out w soap & then for him to be physically removed from office. He’s not perfect, but no President has ever been perfect. I’m still very strongly rooting for his success & America’s success in this great new year.”

Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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