Trump Welcomes First Leader From Sub-Saharan Africa
President Donald Trump welcomed the first leader from sub-Saharan Africa to the White House on Monday nearly 15 months into his term.
The discussions with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari were likely to center around security challenges, including the nearly decade-long insurgency by Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria’s northeast.
But the meeting’s tricky subtext is Trump’s broader view of Africa, including his description of some African nations as “shithole countries” during a private meeting early this year.
Trump denied making the comment, though acknowledged in a tweet he had used “tough” language in the meeting, which was about immigration. He insisted to reporters afterward that he wasn’t a racist.
The crude remark, along with another reported conversation in which Trump mused Nigerians wouldn’t want to return to their “huts” if they came to the US, remain the President’s most well-known views of Africa, a place he talks about rarely and hasn’t visited.
