Warren Mayor Jim Fouts, labeled a racist by critics after audio tapes surfaced with Fouts calling black people “chimps,” was invited to meet with President Trump at the White House this afternoon.

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Fouts and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan are among a group of mayors from across the nation who are scheduled to discuss with Trump the economy, the opioid crisis and the need to rebuild roads and bridges.

So, given his background, does the Fouts invite represent a monumental screw-up by White House staff at a time when the president is fighting off the racist tag after reportedly describing African nations and Haiti as “shithole countries?”

Maybe not.

After all, Fouts and Trump have a lot in common. In addition to both displaying ultra-arrogant, erratic behavior, the Warren mayor has demonstrated his penchant for ranting and engaging in bigoted remarks about minorities, women and the handicapped.

A series of secret recordings that were leaked a year ago found the mayor of Michigan’s third-largest city engaging in talk that was more virulently racist than anything Trump has said.

“Blacks do look like chimpanzees,” Fouts remarked on one recording obtained by the media. “I was watching this black woman with her daughter and they looked like two chimps.” On another tape, he used the word “nigger.” In reaction, a former Fouts political consultant chimed in online: “He dropped a series of N-bombs in meetings I had with him regarding the Connor Creek charter school. (The) school was to be predominately African American. It’s tough to describe, but he actually stood up and did a monkey dance and mimed eating a banana.”

Like Trump, Fouts has also belittled the handicapped in cruel form.

One of the tapes that surfaced contains a seven-minute discussion of how he feels about having to attend a  Special Olympics event. Fouts said the developmentally disabled kids “aren’t even human beings.” They should be put in cages, the mayor added, or be “Kevorkianed” – a reference to infamous assisted suicide practitioner Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

“Friday nights past I’d be going to meet some women, tonight I’m going to meet some retards,” Fouts is heard saying.

As for that comment about women, Fouts, 75, may have trumped Trump with his stunning comments about older vs. younger females. He didn’t say “grab ‘em by the pussy,” but caught on tape was this Fouts remark:

“They are pussies when they are young, and when they get older, they’re just mean, hateful dried-up cunts.”

Known for dating much younger women, including his highly paid executive assistant, Fouts berated one of his top aides:

“What happened with those girls you were going to get for me?”

There’s a bit of Stormy Daniels-style Trump behavior in that remark, no?

Damaging tapes are obviously something the president and the mayor have in common.

In October, Fouts downplayed Donald Trump’s crude language toward women, infamously caught on tape by the TMZ infotainment TV show. He argued online that a public official’s private comments should not enter the public domain. In a Facebook post, the mayor said: “… that was a private conversation. Issue is, should everyone’s private conversation be a public issue?”

Like Trump, Fouts has used the “fake news” defense to some effect. He claims that the voice on all those tapes are not his, or that they were doctored to twist his words. A prominent voice recognition expert says otherwise.

A year ago, Fouts was facing an informal petition drive calling for his resignation and a separate drive seeking to recall him from office – sort of like facing calls for his impeachment. So far, he has survived nicely. Heck, he even got invited to the White House.

If the president and the mayor manage some bonding time this afternoon, who knows where this leads? They might become compadres –  or two bad hombres.