Saturday 13 January 2018

Did Trump mean shithole or Sithole?

I've got the perfect get-out explanation for Donald Trump. He has, quire rightly, been villified for referring to African countries as "shitholes". The whole of Africa has demanded he apologise. But amidst all the back and forth, with some Republicans present at the "shithole" meeting saying they didn't hear him say it, I suddenly realised what Trump had been trying to say. Being a student of African politics, I think what he was trying to say was that he objected to having to take so many immigrants from Sithole's country. For the uninitiated, Sithole, or Ndabaningi Sithole to give him his full name, was a leading figure when Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in the 1960s. So, for Shitholes, you should read Sithole!!! All Trump has to announce, or get his press flunkies to accounce, is that in the heat of the arguments about immigration with the Congressional leaders, he had meant to refer to the distinguished freedom fighter and founder of the Zimbabwe African National Union, Ndabaningi Sithole. He obviously wouldn't have tried to say Ndabaningi because that name always confused even the finest BBC news reader in the 1960s. So it came out as just "Sithole". It doesn't quite get Trump off the hook, because it would still have sounded rude whether he said shithole or Sithole. But it would still give him a chance to rectify what sounded to everyone like a racist comment. So, a word of advice, Mr President, stick to Sithole in future.

2 comments:

  1. Also Trump has a speech impediment which makes saying S difficult without pushing his lips so far out they split. Invites guests at the White House to “shit down” apparently. Explains everything. Thanks Mike!

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