- US President Trump praised India, calling it a "great" nation with a "very good" friend leading it
- Trump had reposted a racist transcript of a podcast by Michael Savage targeting India, China, and others
- Savage’s podcast called Indian and Chinese immigrants “gangsters with laptops”
US President Donald Trump on Thursday praised India and said that he has a "very good friend" leading the country. Earlier in the day, Trump reposted a racist remark by American political commentator and radio host Michael Savage's podcast, where he referred to India, China and other nations as "hell holes".
Christopher Elms, spokesperson for the US Embassy in New Delhi, relayed that the Republican leader spoke warmly of India, calling it a great nation and noting that he shares a personal friendship with its leader.
"India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top," Trump said.
In his racist rant calling for changes in the United States' birthright citizenship law, Savage alleged that people from the two Asian nations come to the US to "drop a baby in the ninth month", and the law turns them into "instant" US citizens.
Trump shared the transcript and video of Savage's podcast 'Savage Nation', where he slammed the US Supreme Court's arguments on birthright citizenship.
The transcript describes Indian and Chinese immigrants as "gangsters with laptops" who have "stepped on our flag".
"They've done more damage to this nation than all the mafia families put together. In my unhumble opinion. Gangsters with laptops. They've robbed us blind, treated us like second-class citizens, let the trud world triumph, stepped on our flag, et cetera," he wrote.
Savage said that he used to be a "great supporters of Indians in India" but only until he realised that the prospect of "white men" getting jobs at a high-tech company in California is 'nil'.
In an interview with CNBC, on Tuesday, Trump falsely claimed that the US is the only country offering birthright citizenship. Several nations, including Canada and Mexico, and other countries in South America grant citizenship based on place of birth.
"In reality, about three dozen countries provide automatic citizenship to people born on their soil, including US neighbours Canada and Mexico and the majority of South American countries," CNN stated in a fact-check on Trump's claim.
India's Reaction
On Trump's derogatory post comparing India and China as "hell holes", the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, acknowledged, "We have seen some reports. That is where I leave it."
