Face of Nation : Former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh, who announced this past weekend that he is taking on Donald Trump in the Republican primary, has defended a claim many saw as racist. This comes after Walsh apologized for comments he has made in the past.
Walsh said he was trying to be “provocative” when he tweeted in 2018 that it is not racist to call Haiti a “shithole.” He compared it to calling it racist to say that crime in Chicago is “all black on black.”
“Those aren’t racist statements. They’re just facts,” he tweeted.“I hardly agree with anything Trump said — look, Haiti is a shithole. You could describe it as other things, too,” Walsh said in a portion of a conversation a Washington Post reporter tweeted on Monday. He continued, “That’s a provocative tweet. Was it a little too provocative? Maybe.”
The tweet he referred to followed reports that the president used the word “shithole” to describe Haiti, El Salvador and African nations.On Sunday, Walsh addressed racist comments he has made in the past, including tweets that claimed former President Barack Obama is Muslim.
Walsh has been criticized for entering the race against Trump on the grounds that Trump is “unfit” and a “racial arsonist” when Walsh has made many of the same or similar statements as the president. In fact, Walsh admits he believes he “helped create Trump.” He says the difference between them is that Trump has “never apologized for anything he’s done or said.”
