DID TRUMP SAY "SHITHOLE COUNTRIES" OR "SHITHOUSE COUNTRIES"? DOES IT MATTER?

Senators Perdue and Cotton

As you may or may not know, Sen Tom Cotton (R-AR) and David Perdue (R-GA) at first stated they "do not recall" Trump using the term "shithole countries" during the bipartisan immigration meeting in the White House. After recovering their memories, the two senators disputed the leaked information by stating that Trump said "shithouse countries" rather than "shithole countries".

After the first leak about Trump's comments, Sen Richard Durbin (D-IL), who was not the original leaker, stated that Trump did indeed use the term "shithole countries", and Sen Lindsey Graham (R-SC) confirmed Durbin's account.

Sen Richard Durbin

Why Cotton and Perdue continue to choose to split the hair between "shithole" and "shithouse" to deny what Trump said is a mystery to me. Do the senators believe the term "shithouse countries" is acceptable? Their denials are ludicrous. Anyone with a functional brain knows the two are lying.

The shell of the State Department that remains under Rex Tillerson and the Trump maladministration is left to deal with the wreckage of the blowback as US ambassadors and diplomats around the world are summoned to explain Trump's comments.

That's not to mention that Trump, who brags often about his love and support of the military, made reckless comments that endanger members of the US military who serve in the "shithole countries".

The latest tweet from Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News:

For what its worth, here's new spin from source very close to WH: When Trump said "shit house" countries (not "shit hole") at immigration meeting, he was actually thinking about real estate.

You can't make this shit up. I detect a ring of truth in the latest spin, at least the real estate part, because making money from real estate is never far from Trump's mind.

UPDATE: It gets worse according to the Washington Post. Read it all for an insider view of how Chief of Staff John Kelly operates. He's not the man who will save America from Trump.

But some White House officials, including conservative adviser Stephen Miller, feared that Graham and Durbin would try to trick Trump into signing a bill that was damaging to him and would hurt him with his political base. As word trickled out Thursday morning on Capitol Hill that Durbin and Graham were heading over to the White House, legislative affairs director Marc Short began to make calls to lawmakers and shared many of Miller’s concerns.

Soon, Goodlatte, one of the more conservative House members on immigration, was headed to the White House. Trump also called House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and asked him to come, McCarthy said. Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Cotton were also invited to rush over.