Donald Trump has been lying about an imaginary call in which the president of Mexico told him exactly what he wanted to hear, but now we know what Trump is saying in real calls with world leaders, and it’s … weird, insulting, and disturbing. According to a transcript of a call between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto obtained by the Washington Post, this is how Trump talks about American states:
[W]e have the drug lords in Mexico that are knocking the hell out of our country. They are sending drugs to Chicago, Los Angeles, and to New York. Up in New Hampshire — I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den — is coming from the southern border.
(This is classic Trump: He lost the general election there, though he did win the Republican primary.)
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) responded in a series of tweets, writing that “.@realDonaldTrump's comments about New Hampshire are disgusting. As he knows, NH and states across America have a substance misuse crisis. To date, @POTUS has proposed policies that would severely set back our efforts to combat this devastating epidemic. Instead of insulting people in the throes of addiction, @POTUS needs to work across party lines to actually stem the tide of this crisis.”
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) posted on Facebook: “No, Mr. President, you're wrong about New Hampshire—but you have failed to help us fight the opioid crisis. We need recovery facilities NOW. Stop attacking health care and make the investments you promised.”
This is how Donald Trump sees you, America. He doesn’t look at your communities and want to find a solution to their problems. He doesn’t look at suffering and want to make it better. He sees drug-infested dens, and what he cares about is whether he won those drug-infested dens.