The most recent flap ignited by Pres. Donald Trump’s mouth once again illustrates the moral bankruptcy of American politics.

Remarks Trump made during a strategy meeting on immigration set off a firestorm. According to anonymous insiders, as reported by the Washington Post, Trump was discussing a bipartisan immigration deal with lawmakers when the issue of protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries came up.

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”

He allegedly went on to say America should take in more immigrants from countries like Norway, and also from Asian countries because they help the economy.

Trump denied making these comments.

Regardless both progressives and neoconservatives went apoplectic, condemning the comments as insensitive and racist.

Now, let’s be honest. They were.

But here’s my problem with all of this. The same people galloping around on moral high horses screaming condemnation at the top of their lungs sat in total silence while Pres. Barack Obama bombed seven countries for eight years and literally turned them into shitholes. I have progressive friends hurling moral indignation all over Facebook whom I’ve never seen type word one about the endless bombing and wars – at least not since their hero Barack took office in 2008. I’ve been frustrated by this selective leftwing moral outrage since Trump won the election.  It’s sad Trump’s Twitter account causes them more angst that dead wedding parties in Pakistan.

And then there are the neoconservatives.  I give them credit for being philosophically consistent. They’ve supported bombing “shithole countries” into oblivion their entire political lives. But they don’t like Trump, so they’re going to jump on the bandwagon and condemn him to score some political points. They would prefer somebody in the Oval Office who was more philosophically committed to killing people in other countries. To achieve that end, they’ll put on smug, serious faces, stand in front of the cameras and gravely lecture Americans about Trump’s racist and insensitive speech.

I’m not here to give Trump a pass for being an obnoxious jerk. But in my view, he’s no different than most any other politician except for the fact that he doesn’t have a filter. He says all of the things other politicians think. He exhibits all of the ignorance other politicians learn to hide.

Trump unmasks politics.

And the moral compass guiding American politics has gone completely out of whack. It’s a crying shame that Trump’s use of the term “shithole countries” generates more outrage than bombing and killing people in said countries.

If you’re running around acting all indignant about Trump’s words and you haven’t spoken up about the death and destruction the U.S. has rained down on “shithole countries” around the world, your moral standing is sitting down.

Trump caricature by DonkeyHotey via Flickr.