Norway has turned to a bit of toilet humour in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent comments insulting the Scandinavian country and the Nobel Peace Prize. After Trump called Norway a “shithouse,” the country’s tourism agency published a guide to “some of the world’s most beautiful and spectacular toilets” sprinkled across the stunning Norwegian landscape. Trump’s comments on Sunday at a political rally in Port Huron, Michigan, ahead of the U.S. midterm elections were not the first time the U.S. leader ranted about Norway or the Norwegian Nobel Committee. “Norway has become a shithouse country, actually,” he told the crowd. Trump has been outspoken about his desire for the Nobel, but has expressed doubts that the committee would ever award him the prize. Still, his rhetoric against Norway and the committee ramped up again after the peace prize was awarded to international jurist Navi Pillay earlier this month. In 2018, Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries.” His vulgar remarks drew widespread condemnation and criticism that ricocheted around the globe. At the time, he said he would prefer immigrants from countries like Norway instead. But he has since soured on Oslo, mostly due to the fracas over the peace prize. In response to his most recent comments, Visit Norway clapped back by launching a tourism campaign marketed as “Norway makes shithouses great again” that went viral this week. “So, we heard some noise about ‘s...house country,’” the state-run agency wrote on social media. “What can we say, we do have some of the world’s most beautiful and spectacular toilets.” The water closets are architectural marvels — some have won international awards — and visitors are privy to stunning views ranging from Norway’s fjords and mountains to the Northern Lights. The free toilets at the Stegastein viewpoint, for example, sit on the edge of a cliff and overlook the Aurlandsfjord; a large window ensures that the user can see outside but no one can peek in. DesignCurial rated it No. 1 on its list of the world’s 10 best public toilets in 2015. Evgenia Egorova, the social media lead for Visit Norway, told The Associated Press, her team had already produced similar work a few years ago for annual World Toilet Day — coming Nov. 19 — and was delighted to repurpose it. She said the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. “When life gives you lemons or quotes like this, you just do the lemonade — and all the viral content,” she said with a laugh Friday. Visit Norway’s list also includes the “Gulldassen,” the Golden Toilet, on Senja Island. Built in 2014, the triangular restroom has become a popular rest stop for tourists. Trump, meanwhile, has run afoul of golden thrones before: A golden toilet was installed on the National Mall earlier this year by a resistance art group to protest Trump’s White House renovations. And during the president’s first term, a request to borrow a Van Gogh painting from a New York museum for the White House private quarters went awry. The Guggenheim Museum’s chief curator instead cheekily offered to let the First Family borrow an 18-karat solid gold toilet, titled “America.” The artwork, by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, poked fun at excessive wealth. The one-of-a-kind, fully functioning latrine was later displayed in the U.K. at Blenheim Palace — the country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born — and stolen in 2019 in what prosecutors called “an audacious raid.” Two of the thieves were convicted last year. But the stolen booty has never been found. __ Stefanie Dazio, The Associated Press Dazio used the facilities at the Stegastein viewpoint during a recent vacation to Norway. Associated Press journalist Molly Quell in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed puns to this report.
