Six years ago, President Donald Trump vehemently denied calling Haiti, El Salvador and African nations "s---hole countries." But in his second term, Trump is now embracing the insult, as he continues to ramp up his anti-immigrant rhetoric.

During a Dec. 9 rally in Pennsylvania meant to quell concerns with his base over his handling of the economy, Trump veered off into several rants against immigrants, particularly those from Somalia. The East African country, and the tens of thousands of Somali immigrants and Somali Americans who live in the United States, have landed in Trump's crosshairs in recent weeks. He has also targeted Somalis in each of his presidential campaigns.

"I said, 'Why is it that we only take people from s---hole countries? Why can't we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few, let us have a few, from Denmark ... send us some nice people, do you mind?'" Trump said, smiling, to the packed crowd.

“But we always take people from Somalia,” he said. “Places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.”

He recounted the 2018 White House meeting exchange, which he denied in its aftermath, after he touted his recent pause on what he called "Third World migration" from "hellhole" countries such as Afghanistan, Haiti and Somalia. A crowd member yelled that they were 's---holes,' prompting the president to laugh and revisit the earlier controversy in his speech.

It marks the first time Trump has publicly acknowledged using the term that ignited widespread fury − domestically and internationally − during his first term. A United Nations spokesperson at the time called it "racist," echoing many other condemnations, and Democrats seized on the uproar to condemn the Republican president.

The president's Pennsylvania speech comes after a series of anti-immigrant posts he made on social media Thanksgiving night, Nov. 27, announcing that his administration would "permanently pause" migration from all "Third World Countries." The posts followed the Nov. 26 shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, DC, in which the suspect was identified as an Afghan national. A National Guard member, Sarah Beckstrom, died in the attack, and another member was seriously wounded.

The president also used a word considered a slur that references people with developmental disabilities in the posts to describe Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and said refugees from Somalia were completely "taking over" Minnesota. He made other comments about the state's Somali immigrant population.

Trump doubled down on these verbal attacks during his rally in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, interspersed with messages about the economy and tariff policies. He called Walz "one of the dumbest" state leaders in the country and laid into Rep. Ilhan Omar, referring to her "little turban" and saying she "does nothing but b----." Omar immigrated to the United States from Somalia.

Contributing: Francesca Chambers and Joey Garrison

Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr. Sign up for her daily politics newsletter here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump refers to 's---hole' countries at rally, calls Somalia 'filthy'

Reporting by Kathryn Palmer, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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