“We Are Anything but a ‘Shithole' Country!”: Exploring Nigerian Online Journalists' Reception of Donald Trump's Insult Politics

Introduction

Since his rise to power, US President, Donald Trump, has negatively “distinguished” himself through his controversial policies and constant use of an incendiary language. Using insult and mocking rhetoric in many of his mediated campaigns as well as scores of xenophobic, sexist and racist pronouncements, he has constantly attacked both American and non-American communities and personalities. He has for instance cultivated the habit of calling women “fat pigs, dogs and animals that he hates”; and has profiled Mexicans as criminals and rapists (Winberg, 2017). He has equally utilized an insult rhetoric against specific rivals of the US, notably North Korea, Iran and China, triggering constant waves of criticisms against him, even within his own political movement (the Republican Party). Another evidence of Trump’s use of insult politics was seen during the July 2018 NATO summit. During this event, he unleashed series of verbal assault on members of the transatlantic alliance calling Angela Merkel’s Germany a country “totally controlled by Russia”. During the same summit, he called other members of the alliance “deadbeats and free riders on American power” (Glasser, 2018). Recently, Trump volleyed a series of insults first at UK’s ambassador to the US calling him “wacky” and “very stupid”, then at Prime Minister May, calling her “foolish”. This followed British Ambassador, Sir Kim Darroch’s release of Britain’s memo in which the US President was described as being “incompetent”, “inept” and “insecure”,

One of Trump’s very controversial and racist statements is his reference to Third World and poor countries as “shithole” countries. “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump reportedly asked American lawmakers during a 2018 immigration meeting with a bipartisan group of senators. Although it specifically sought to describe countries populated by Blacks and Latino people (notably Haiti, El Salvador and African countries), the statement was soon interpreted as a pejorative description of the whole global South. And as anyone would have expected, Trump’s statement elicited waves of acerb criticism particularly from poor countries’ politicians and members of the intelligentsias. The African Union Mission in Washington DC manifested its “shock and outrage” interpreting the statement as a clear misunderstanding of Africans. The organization demanded apologies from the US President highlighting the fact that Trump’s remarks “dishonor the celebrated American creed and respect for diversity and human dignity”; and that, the remarks evidence Trump government’s “huge misunderstanding of the African continent and its people” (African Union Mission, 2018, p. 5). The organization also added that such insult rhetoric from Trump signals “the serious need for a dialogue between the US Administration and the African countries” (African Union Mission, 2018, p. 10).