President Trump's in private remarks calling Haiti a "shithole" was rather crude, but Sen. Dick Durbin (Dem,) reporting it to the MSM was a calculated act of betrayal. This was never about Haitians themselves, but the country they came from, This was, in part, about what to do with Haitians who had been allowed to temporarily immigrate under Temporary Protective Status (TPS) after the 2010 earthquake. Some, 58,000 were already here, but assigned TPS and another 31,000 who were allow to enter after the earthquake. Should they now be deported back to Haiti?
Haiti has an interesting and tragic history. It became the second independent country (the United States was first) in the Western Hemisphere after a successful slave revolt in1804. For several decades Haitians were intermittently under attack and blockaded by France, who wanted to get their lucrative sugar producing colony back. Eventually, Haiti agreed to pay France the outrageous sum of $175 million. Amazingly, it took to 1947 to pay off this debt. Meanwhile Haiti was devastated by corrupt leadership that kept the country impoverished while enriching themselves. A ruling caste system mostly consisted of lighter skinned mixed race elites. In 1910, the situation in Haiti became so perilous that it was invaded by America who controlled the country and managed its finances until 1934. Afterward, corrupt leadership returned that culminated in the election of "Papa Doc" Duvalier who became a violent dictator using his private army, the Tonton Macoute, to control the populous. He was seceded after his death by his son "Baby Doc," who was ousted in 1986. Once again, corrupt leaders continued to be elected and ruin the country. Violence and poverty caused many Haitians to attempt the dangerous trip to Florida via rafts and barely seaworthy vessels. By 2010 there were almost 600,000 Haitians living in America. In January, 2010 a devastating category 7 earthquake hit Haiti destroying much of it capital and most populous city, Port Au Prince. The response of the world was quick and generous providing $10 billion with about $3 billion coming from the US government and American charities. Furthermore, the press was delighted when Bill Clinton visited the disaster strewn country and was subsequently appointed special delegate in charge of coordinating the aid to Haiti via the UN and the Clinton Global Initiative. With his wife Hillary, the current US Secretary of State, what could go wrong?
One would have expected that the Clintons, with all this money at their disposal, would have transformed Haiti into a Caribbean paradise, but sadly that was not the case. I suppose one might say that corruption breeds corruption and the Clinton's used this huge pot of money to enrich themselves and Clinton Foundation contributors rather than the Haitian people. I won't go into all the details, but if you are interested, look at a July 22, 2016 article "How the Clinton Foundation Got Rich Off the Haitian People" by Dinesh D'Souza in the National Review. Haitians living in New York picketed Bill Clinton on multiple occasionsin 2015 asking where the money went. The MSM was silent.
Haiti was a "shithole" before the earthquake, a worse "shithole" after the earthquake and with little improvement after the Clinton's intervention 7 years after the earthquake. Even with $10 billion at their disposal it remains a "shithole." It is not the people of Haiti that are the problem, but corruption from the outside and within at the highest levels. As usual Democrats and the MSM has stepped in it again, pun intended, and the more we look into what has gone on in Haiti, especially including the theft committed by the Clinton Foundation, the outrage should move from President Trump to Clinton corruption.
Sadly, we all know the msm will never focus its attention away from Trump and on to the Clintons. But we can take some solace in knowing that if the Clintons should ever set foot in Haiti again(highly unlikely) they will probably be beaten to death.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Doc. Keep 'em coming.