This is a comprehensive guide to the racism of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States.
Donald Trump has a long history of racism. Trump has made racist comments, espoused racist views, and has endorsed and enacted racist policy and laws. National polling has frequently shown that most voters believe Trump is racist.
He has engaged in this behavior in his role as President of the United States. He has also done it as a private citizen and when he was a celebrity, like when he was the host of NBC’s The Apprentice.
Birther Conspiracy
Trump for years was the most prominent promoter of the “birther” conspiracy theory. Birtherism was a made-up attack alleging that President Barack Obama, the first black president, was not a natural-born U.S. citizen. The attacks were completely false.
Trump frequently lied and said that Obama’s birth certificate was inaccurate or phony. He also claimed that he had sent “investigators” to Hawaii to uncover the truth about Obama’s life. No investigators ever uncovered any of the findings Trump claimed they had found.
Racist Comments
Trump said black voters are “living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed.”
Trump referred to Mexican immigrants to the United States as “criminals, drug dealers, rapists.”
Trump called a black attendee at one of his 2016 campaign rallies as “my African-American.” Trump: “Oh, look at my African-American over there. Look at him. Are you the greatest? Do you know what I’m talking about? Okay.”
Asked about meeting the Congressional Black Caucus by reporter April Ryan, who is black, Trump asked Ryan if she would “set up a meeting” with them for him. Ryan has no connection to the caucus.
Trump called Haiti and African nations “shithole countries.” He referred to Nigerian visitors to the United States as people who would “go back to their huts.” Trump said immigrants from Haiti “all have AIDS.”
Trump frequently said that President Barack Obama was lazy. Laziness is a smear that racists have often used against blacks.
Trump lamented the movement to remove statues revering the pro-slavery Confederacy. He called such statues “beautiful” while arguing against taking them down.
Trump Attacks
Trump led a crowd of his supporters in a chant of “send her back” against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MI). Omar is black and an immigrant from Somalia.
Trump attacked Omar, along with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) with an attack on their countries of origin, calling them “countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world.” The attacks were condemned with a majority vote in the House of Representatives as “racist.”
On Martin Luther King Day 2017, Trump attacked Rep. John Lewis. Lewis was one of the original major civil rights figures. Lewis marched alongside Martin Luther King and spoke at the 1963 March on Washington. Trump claimed Lewis was “all talk,” ignoring his iconic past, and claimed his Georgia district was “crime infested.”
When PBS reporter Yamiche Alexander, who is black, asked him about his open support of white nationalists, he complained she was a “very nasty person.”
Trump spent an entire weekend attacking the city of Baltimore, which is largely black. He inaccurately referred to Baltimore as “disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess” and a “very dangerous & filthy place.”
Central Park 5
In 1989, Trump bought a newspaper ad calling for the Central Park 5 to be executed with the death penalty. The Central Park 5 were wrongly accused of assaulting a woman in New York’s Central Park. They were completely exonerated for the alleged crime after spending years in prison. Even after learning about the exoneration, Trump continued to support his pro-execution position.
Neo-Nazis
After white supremacists rioted in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump hailed “very fine people” on “both sides” of the protest.
The Trump Organization
In 1973, Trump’s company was sued for housing discrimination by the U.S. Department of Justice. The department sent testers to attempt to rent apartments from the Trump Organization. Blacks applying for Trump apartments were told there were no apartments available, while white applicants in the identical economic situation were approved.
Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino had to pay a $200,000 fine for removing black and latino customers from a table to appease a racist customer.
Trump Hires
Steve Bannon. Trump hired Steve Bannon to be his campaign chairman during the 2016 election and later appointed him to be his senior political aide in the White House. Bannon previously ran the Breitbart website, which Bannon said was a platform for the white nationalist “alt right.”
When he operated Breitbart, the site had a vertical for “black crime,” which was an attempt to single out crime’s purported connection to black people.
Kris Kobach. Trump brought in Kobach as an adviser in the White House. Before that, Kobach was the lawyer for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Ken Cuccinelli. Trump appointed Cuccinelli to a key role overseeing immigration. Cuccinelli compared immigrants to “rats” and was a promoter of the racist birther conspiracy theory.
Native Americans
Attacking competitors to his Atlantic City casino (which eventually folded), Trump questioned whether the owners were authentically Native American.
Trump has repeatedly used the term “Pocahontas” to refer to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
Muslims
Trump proposed a “complete and total shutdown” of Muslim travel to the United States during the 2016 election. In the White House, Trump attempted to impose a travel ban which targeted countries with Muslim populations.
Opposing the building of a mosque near the Ground Zero site in New York City, Trump said, “Well, somebody’s blowing us up. Somebody’s blowing up buildings, and somebody’s doing lots of bad stuff.”
Trump also lied and said that Muslims celebrated the 9/11 attacks with a party on the roof of a building.
Trump said “a lot” of Muslims hate the united States.
Latinos
Trump called undocumented immigrants “animals.”
Trump alleged that a judge who ruled against him could not be impartial because the judge came from a Mexican-American background.
Trump tried to run a racist ad about “caravans” from Mexico that even Fox News would not air.
Asians
Attempting to deflect blame for the COVID-19 pandemic away from himself, Trump referred to the “Chinese virus.” He did so at a time when Asians were being attacked and harassed over the outbreak.
Trump ran an ad in the 2020 election implying that former Washington governor GaryLocke, who is Asian-American, was a Chinese government official.
Retweets
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump retweeted a graphic from a white supremacist with made-up statistics inflating crime statistics by minorities.
Trump retweeted an account called “White Genocide” that had as its avatar a photo of the founder of the American Nazi Party.
Trump promoted a racist anti-black conspiracy theory about South Africa, which prompted an official rebuke from that country’s government.
Trump tweeted out a photo of Hillary Clinton in front of a pile of money and the Jewish star of David.
NFL
Trump attacked NFL players for respectfully kneeling in protest of police brutality against blacks. He called on the league to cut their pay and also for them to be fired.
David Duke
Former KKK grand dragon and notorious racist David Duke endorsed Trump in the 2016 election. When he was initially asked about rejecting Duke’s support, Trump would not rebuke the racist. It was only after repeated requests and public criticism that Trump tepidly rejected Duke.
Rush Limbaugh
Trump gave the presidential medal of freedom to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh has a long of history of racist comments delivered nationally via his syndicated radio show.
“Jokes”
Trump made a joke about lead poisoning in the water in Flint, Michigan during the 2016 election. The poisoning of that water has disproportionately affected black communities. Trump: “It used to be, cars were made in Flint, and you couldn’t drink the water in Mexico. Now, the cars are made in Mexico, and you can’t drink the water in Flint.”
Apprentice
Trump proposed a season of The Apprentice that would pit a black team against a white team. NBC rejected his idea.
Insider Reports
Several people related to Trump have said he is a racist.
“Donald Trump is a disgusting, filthy, petty racist and he is trying to start a race war in this country and what we saw this week is just the beginning” – former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman.
Trump is “racist and unacceptable” – former White communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
Kip Brown, former employee of the Trump’s Castle casino , “When Donald and Ivana came to the casino, the bosses would order all the black people off the floor.”
Former Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino president Jack O’Donnell said when there were blacks in the establishment, Trump would say, “It’s a little dark tonight.” O’Donnell also revealed that Trump said, “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.”
O’Donnell said Trump also noted, “laziness is a trait in blacks.”
One of the first political bloggers in the world, Oliver Willis has operated OliverWillis.com since 2000. Contributor at Media Matters for America and The American Independent. Follow on Twitter at @owillis. Full bio.