Evidence for the USA as a "shithole country" -- the most powerful on Planet Earth

Earth as a Shithole Planet -- from a Universal Perspective? (Part #6)

If indeed President Trump engaged in a process of cognitive displacement, then his characterization of selected other countries as "shithole countries" is best explored as mirroring his unconscious recognition that the USA is itself a "shithole country", if not the primary "shithole country" -- as he would be in the best position to recognize, being its elected leader.

If that phrasing is only an allegation by interested parties -- themselves key figures in the politics of that country -- then this would suggest that it was they who were aware of the "shithole" condition of the country, however unconsciously. Irrespective of whether it was Trump or his accusers who are to be challenged for the "shithole" phrasing, either can be understood as having a very fundamental need to express that insight -- to get it out into the public domain.

Much is made of data confirming that the USA is the greatest source of pollution in the world -- presumably to be understood as the primary criterion for qualification as a "shithole country":

Justin Gillis and Nadia Popovich: The U.S. Is the Biggest Carbon Polluter in History. It Just Walked Away From the Paris Climate Deal. (The New York Times, 1 June 2017)
John W. Schoen: Here's how US carbon pollution stacks up with the rest of the world (CNBC, 31 May 2017)
Alexander Nazaryan: The US Department of Defense Is One of the World's Biggest Polluters (Newsweek, 17 July 2014)
Washington's Blog: Environmentalists are Ignoring the Elephant in the Room: U.S. Military is the World's Largest Polluter (Global Research, 23 May 2017)
Thomas D. Williams: WHO: United States Among Least Polluting Nations on the Planet (Breitbart, 5 June 2017)
Whitney Webb: U.S. Military Is World's Biggest Polluter (EcoWatch, 15 May 2017)
Saurabh Datar: U.S. emissions are decreasing, but it's still the biggest polluter (AJC, 2 June 2017)
Michael B. Gerrard: America is the worst polluter in the history of the world; we should let climate change refugees resettle here. (The Washington Post, 25 June 2015)
W. E. Messamore: The Number One Worst Polluter on Earth Is The U.S. Federal Government (IVN, 18 April 2012)
Political Economy Research Institute: The Toxic 100: Top Corporate Air Polluters in the United States (InfoPlease, 2000)
Seth Bornstein: Trump says U.S., one of the worst carbon polluters, is the 'cleanest' country on Earth (The Star, 3 June 2017)
Justin Raimondo: America: Just Another Shit-hole? Or will we get our republic back? (Information Clearing House, 9 February 2018)

Josh Hoxie: Commentary: I Live in a 'Shithole Country. It's Called the United States. (Fortune, 12 January 2018):

The U.S. is the wealthiest country on earth. Yet one in five children here will go to bed hungry tonight. Thirteen million American children live in poverty, the highest rate among the world's wealthy countries....The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty, Philip Alston, conducted a two-week tour of the U.S. in late 2017. He found some of the most extreme inequality anywhere in the world....

America also has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, the highest infant mortality rate among developed countries, and is the only industrialized country not to guarantee health care as a basic human right.

Danielle Campoamor: Trump's America Is A Shithole Country (Newsweek, 15 January 2018) argues that:

... by many standards, the United States, is, in fact, a shithole country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 23,000 infants died in the United States in 2015. The U.S. has the worst rate of maternal deaths in the developed world, and black women in America are three times more likely to die during childbirth than white women.... A 2017 analysis by the CDC Foundation found that nearly 60 percent of all maternal deaths were completely preventable....

In December, the United Nations began investigating extreme poverty in the U.S., the world's richest country. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 41 million Americans live in poverty, with the top one percent of Americans controlling 38 percent of the nation's wealth....

In 2013, a government study found that one military veteran dies by suicide every 65 minutes in this country.... The United States is also the only developed nation without mandatory paid maternity leave.... Every 98 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted. A man accused of sexual assault by 19 women is now our president.

From 1966 to 2012, nearly one-third of the world's mass shootings happened in the United States, and Americans own more guns than any other group of citizens in the world. In 2017, 987 American citizens were shot and killed by police officers.

Marykate Jasper: 15 Reasons America Might Be the Real "Shithole Country" (The Mary Sue, 13 January 2018) concludes:

Now, obviously, no country is really a "shithole country," because countries are made up of human beings who have intrinsic worth and value; every nation on the planet has made some positive contributions to human culture, innovation, and politics. But before Donald Trump talks trash about the rest of the world, he might want to look a little closer to home - and a little closer at how his own policies are exacerbating America's problems.

Sarah Ruiz-Grossman: People On Twitter Tell Trump No One In Norway Wants To Come To His 'Shithole Country' (The Huffington Post, 11 January 2018)