• The president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, is infamous for making racially-charged sentiments and remarks. It has always sparked fierce debates in the US about whether to brand Trump as a racist and a xenophobe. The hostility he expresses towards non-whites and 'less developed' countries is appalling and it may seem befitting to label him a racist and a xenophobe. 

    Trump has made headlines this week after he branded Haiti, El Salvador and unspecified African countries as "shithole countries". This aroused a widespread outrage from all over the world as people are finding it hard to stomach his egregious statements. He revealed this during a meeting with congressional leaders in the Oval Office over immigration issues. 

    “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Mr Trump said after being presented with a proposal to restore protections for immigrants from the countries in question. 

    This is not the first time that Donald Trump has uttered such unpalatable words. He once said that all people from Haiti have AIDS. He also referred to Nigerians saying that they live in "huts." On Mexico, he said that all of them were criminals and rapists. More notoriously, Donald Trump has been vociferously pushing for the US to effect a travel ban for Muslims from selected countries who have dominant Muslim populations. 

    His condescending attitude towards every other human being who is not white and who comes from the least developed countries is deplorable. The UN has rightly called Donald Trump's unashamed statements "racist" and said that they are "shocking and shameful" comments from the President of the US. 

    Donald Trump seems to have learned nothing from history. The United States has been built strongly over the years because of the immense contribution that has been poured in by migrants. The African Union said that it was "frankly alarmed" by the comments. "Given the historical reality of how many Africans arrived in the United States as slaves, this statement flies in the face of all accepted behaviour and practice," AU spokeswoman Ebba Kalondo said. 

    The support that Donald Trump enjoys from those who elevated him to the highest office in that land (automatically making him one of the powerful people on Earth) is derived from the racial and xenophobic undertones. In fact, this is what forms the core of Trump's presidency. For his vaunted base of supporters, this is what appeals to them. Does it not make Trump a racist and a xenophobe?

    Donald Trump's hostile attitude towards immigration will continue cultivating and ingratiating deep-seated and toxic principles of racism and xenophobia. The world should not tolerate such.