Senate minority whip Dick Durbin, the only Democrat present at the Oval Office meeting, stated that Trump did use racist language and referred to African countries as “shitholes” and that “he said these hate-filled things, and he said them repeatedly.” Five days after the rally, Trump returned to Twitter to express sympathy with the original rally and their defense of Confederate statues, writing, “Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments” and “the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!” His statement and his subsequent defenses of it, in which he also referred to “very fine people on both sides”, suggested a moral equivalence between the white supremacist marchers and those who protested against them, leading some observers to state that he was sympathetic to white supremacy. In his initial statement on the rally, Trump condemned “hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides” but did not directly denounce white nationalists. Two hours after the dispersal order, a woman was killed and 35 other people injured at a nearby mall, when a self-professed neo-Nazi drove his car into a group of people who had been protesting against the rally.
Racial views of Donald Trump
The memo instructed Federal agencies to “begin to identify all contracts or other agency spending related to any training on ‘critical race theory,’ ‘white privilege,’ or any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either (1) that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country or (2) that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil.” Trump cited conservative media reports and retweeted Twitter posts to describe the policy. The tweet included an embedded video showing several pro-Trump senior citizens in Florida having an exchange with anti-Trump protestors and supporters of Black Lives Matter as well as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. The phrase had been used previously in 1967 by a Miami police chief, Walter Headley, that was widely condemned by civil rights groups and repeated in 1968 during the presidential campaign of segregationist George Wallace. They asked when would Americans declare that they “have had enough” of Trump’s words and actions, which both attract and shield “white supremacists who consider people of color a sub-human ‘infestation’ in America … The question is less about the president’s sense of decency, but of” Americans’.
Charlottesville rally
In her 2012 campaign for the Senate, Elizabeth Warren’s opponent raised accusations concerning Warren’s having listed partial Native American ancestry on her profile in a professional directory. Protesters included white supremacists, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and various militias. Its stated goal was to oppose the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park.
New York Times news analyst Peter Baker drew controversy for writing an article on the tweets but avoiding directly calling the tweets “racist”. Only one of those congresswomen is an immigrant; the other three were born in the United States, making Trump’s comments an example of the false attribution of foreignness to members of minorities. So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Reformed neo-Nazi Christian Picciolini, for example, tweeted that “Trump’s ‘I’m a Nationalist’ comment will likely represent the biggest boon for white supremacist recruitment since the film The Birth of a Nation glorified the Klan in 1915 and gained the KKK 4 million members by 1925.” Many others, however, suggested that his use of the word “nationalist” was dangerously close to the phrase “white nationalist”. Commentators have pointed out that most of the people Trump has given clemency to did not “look like Johnson” and that he has used the pardon power mainly for political purposes.
Inter-presidency and 2024 campaign
On May 1, 1989, Trump called for the return of the death penalty by taking out a full-page advertisement in all four of the city’s major newspapers. The Trump Organization was sued again in 1978 for violating terms of the 1975 settlement by continuing to refuse to rent to black tenants; Trump and his lawyer Roy Cohn denied the charges. Elyse Goldweber, the Justice Department lawyer tasked with taking Trump’s deposition, has stated that during a coffee break Trump said to her directly, “You know, you don’t want to live with them either.” Testers from the New York City Human Rights Division had found that prospective black renters at Trump buildings were told there were no apartments available, while prospective White renters were offered apartments at the same buildings. Several studies and surveys have shown that racial resentment has contributed to Trump’s political ascendance, and has become more significant than economic factors in determining the party allegiance of U.S. voters. Trump’s controversial statements have been condemned by many observers around the world, but excused by some of his supporters as a rejection of political correctness and by others because they harbor similar racial beliefs.
The authors concluded that “actions were more likely to be environmentally related, whereas rhetoric was more likely to be racist”, further positing that “spectacular racism has helped obscure the relatively smooth and devastating deregulation.” However, the authors also cautioned that the numbers of actions taken “do not indicate impact”, specifically pointing to the Muslim ban and restriction of asylum claims. Doug McAdam writes that Trump “is just giving unusually loud and frank voice to views already typical among large numbers of Republicans” and “has pushed the GOP toward ever further racist and nativist extremes.” McAdam believes that the Republican Party shift away from more liberal views on matters of racial equality began with Richard Nixon’s presidency. Following Trump’s defense of Confederate symbols in 2020, several journalists and pundits accused Trump of being racist and pandering to white voters. Following the incident in which Trump referred to several nations alvexo forex broker as “shithole countries”, some media commentators moved from describing certain words and actions of Trump as manifesting racism, to calling Trump racist. The Southern Poverty Law Center monitored Trump’s campaign throughout the election and noted several instances where Trump and lower-level surrogates either used white nationalist rhetoric or engaged with figures in the white nationalist movement. They affirmed their racialist beliefs, stating “Race is real, race matters, and race is the foundation of identity.” Speakers called for a “White Homeland” and expounded on racial differences in intelligence.
First 2020 presidential debate
- Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League called Trump’s comments “racist, xenophobic and despicable.” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement, “That’s a normal phrase that is used in everyday life – in books, television, movies, and in news articles. For anyone to think that is racist or xenophobic is living in an alternate reality consumed with non-sensical outrage.”
- Following the 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision, Trump blamed, without evidence, diversity, equity, and inclusion policies for the crash, in comments that were described as racist.
- An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that @BarackObama’s birth certificate is a fraud.
- Their study found “substantial evidence that Trump has encouraged racism and benefitted politically from it.” Looking at hate crime figures in which Trump had won the election they found a jump of hate crimes, the second largest jump in 25 years, the first being September 11, 2001.
- According to an August 2016 Suffolk University poll, 7% of those planning to vote for Trump thought he was racist.
- A Quinnipiac University poll released in July found that 51% of voters believed that Trump is a racist while 45% said that he is not.
Shaun Donovan, the former secretary of the Housing and Urban Development department who is responsible for the creation of the policy, said that “Trump’s tweet is racist and wrong…” Some suggested that the comments by Trump were intended to shore up support among white suburban voters, noting that the day before this tweet Trump had posted a video of a white couple in front of their house angrily pointing guns at protesters. At a rally in Houston in October 2018, Trump stated “You know, they have a word—it’s sort of became old-fashioned—it’s called a nationalist. And I say, really, we’re not supposed to use that word. You know what I am? I’m a nationalist, okay? I’m a nationalist. Nationalist. Nothing wrong. Use that word. Use that word.” Trump later denied that there was any racial connotation connected to his use of the word. Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said, “America’s president is a racist and this is the proof. His hateful rhetoric has no place in the White House.” Representative Tim Walz of Minnesota said, “This is racism, plain and simple, and we need to call it that. My Republican colleagues need to call it that too.” Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said that Trump’s comments “smack of blatant racism—odious and insidious racism masquerading poorly as immigration policy”. Vice President Mike Pence stated that he “knows the president’s heart”, and that Trump’s goal is to reform the immigration system so that it is merit-based regardless of race, creed or country of origin, encouraging immigration by those who want to “contribute to a growing American economy and thriving communities.” Some Republican lawmakers denounced Trump’s comments, calling them “unfortunate” and “indefensible”, while others sidestepped or did not respond to them. In a tweet to mark the first anniversary, Trump stated “The riots in Charlottesville a year ago resulted in senseless death and division. We must come together as a nation. I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to ALL Americans!” Critics contended that the wording “all types of racism” could be seen as a veiled defense of white nationalists, similarly to his “both sides” remarks on the rally. At a Somali support rally following Trump’s comments the Portland mayor welcomed the city’s Somali residents, saying, “We need you here.” Maine Republican US senator Susan Collins commented, “Mr. Trump’s statements disparaging immigrants who have come to this country legally are particularly unhelpful. Maine has benefited from people from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and, increasingly, Africa—including our friends from Somalia.”
Trump made comments following a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that were seen by critics as implying moral equivalence between the white supremacist marchers and those who protested against them as “very fine people”. Trump has nominated or appointed multiple people with a history of making racist comments. He called some of those who marched alongside white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., last August “very fine people.” He began his 2016 presidential campaign with a speech disparaging Mexican immigrants as criminals and “rapists.”
Minority outreach during 2016 campaign
Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League called Trump’s comments “racist, xenophobic and despicable.” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement, “That’s a normal phrase that is used in everyday life – in books, television, movies, and in news articles. For anyone to think that is racist or xenophobic is living in an alternate reality consumed with non-sensical outrage.” In an October 2023 interview, Trump said undocumented immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country,” echoing language often used by white supremacists who fixate on so-called blood purity. On November 24, West released a video in which he stated that Trump began screaming at him and telling him that he was going to lose after West asked Trump to be his vice-presidential candidate, stating, “Trump started basically screaming at me at the table telling me I was going to lose – I mean has that ever worked for anyone in history. I’m like hold on, hold on, hold on, Trump, you’re talking to Ye”. In late November 2022, Kanye West (who had recently announced his own candidacy for the 2024 presidential election) visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago, along with white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. Some commentators considered Trump’s comments to be a racist and anti-immigrant attack, undermining the legitimacy of the children of immigrants of color as legitimate Americans.
- Pulido et al. published a study in 2018 comparing racism and environmental deregulation during the first year of Trump’s presidency.
- At a rally he said, “We’ve just seen many, many crimes getting worse all the time, and as Maine knows—a major destination for Somali refugees—right, am I right?” Trump also alluded to risks of terrorism, referring to an incident in June 2016 when three young Somali men were found guilty of planning to join the Islamic State in Syria.
- In a Morning Consult poll in August 2016, only 5% of black voters said they intend to vote for Trump.
- It is extremely disturbing that the President of the United States echoed a long-standing and false white supremacist claim that South Africa’s white farmers are targets of large-scale, racially-motivated killings by South Africa’s black majority.
The U.S. Department of Justice concluded that Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio oversaw the worst pattern of racial profiling in U.S. history. Trump responded with tweets claiming the Puerto Rican leadership were “not able to get their workers to help” because “They want everything to be done for them” while claiming federal workers were doing a “fantastic job.” As the death toll reached into the thousands, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York and others criticized the federal government and suggested racism was partially to blame for the insufficient response. According to two people who attended the meeting, Trump asked caucus members if they personally knew new cabinet member Ben Carson and appeared surprised when no one said they knew him. The question was part of Trump’s campaign rhetoric that was seen as characterizing all African Americans in terms of helpless poverty and inner-city violence.
In June 2020, Trump tweeted videos of black men attacking white people with captions questioning why no one was protesting the violence, and writing “So terrible!” Critics accused Trump of suggesting individual crimes committed by black men are equivalent to the systemic violence against people of color by police officers, and fomenting racial division as the presidential election nears. The Harris campaign and several non-partisan Jewish organizations criticized Trump’s comments during an antisemitism conference on September 19 where he stated that “if I don’t win this election” then “the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss” and continued criticizing liberal Jews for “voting for the enemy” by claiming the Democratic party had a “hold, or curse” on Jewish Americans. Trump repeated the phrase “they’re poisoning the blood of our country” during a December 16, 2023 rally, and has continued repeating the phrase throughout his 2024 presidential campaign. A Quinnipiac poll conducted in January 2018 after Trump’s Oval Office comments about immigration showed that 58 percent of American voters found the comments to be racist, while 59 percent said that he does not respect people of color as much as he respects white people. The authors described that “transgressive” racism, or “spectacular” racism, is a “hallmark” of Trump’s presidential campaign and presidency, with Trump employing it for “numerous political objectives, including dehumanizing his targets, consolidating his power, eroding democratic norms, and distracting from policy and legal changes”.
International response
“I think I might have more Indian blood than a lot of the so-called Indians that are trying to open up the reservations.” Trump pardoned – and fulsomely praises – Joe Arpaio, the Arizona sheriff sanctioned for racially profiling Latinos and for keeping immigrants in brutal prison conditions. Under Bannon’s leadership, the website Breitbart made white nationalism a central theme. Trump hired Steve Bannon as his campaign head and later White House chief strategist.
In a CBS News and YouGov poll of almost 2,100 American adults conducted from July 17 to 19, it was found that 34% felt that Trump’s initial tweets were not racist, and 48% felt that they were racist. On July 19, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, commented, “I reject Trump’s comments and stand in solidarity with the congresswomen he targeted.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “The comments made were hurtful, wrong and completely unacceptable. I want everyone in Canada to know that those comments are completely unacceptable and should not be allowed or encouraged in Canada”. On July 19, Trump praised the North Carolina crowd as “incredible people” and “incredible patriots”. Trump also named Ilhan Omar and misrepresented comments Omar made in 2013, falsely claiming that Omar had praised al-Qaeda. After the vote, Trump praised the Republican Party for being unified in rejecting the House resolution, while acknowledging that the resolution was regarding his comments on “four Democrat Congresswomen”.
In 2018, during an Oval Office meeting about immigration reform, Trump referred to El Salvador, Haiti, and African countries as “shitholes”, which critics condemned as a racist comment. From 2011 to 2016, Trump was a leading proponent of the debunked birther conspiracy theory falsely claiming president Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Journalists, friends, family, and former employees have accused him of fueling racism in the United States.
During the early 1990s, competition from an expanding Native American casino industry threatened his Atlantic City investments. Trump told Playboy magazine in an interview published in 1997, “The stuff O’Donnell wrote about me is probably true.” Two years later, when seeking the nomination of the Reform Party for president, Trump denied having made the statement. In June 2019 in response to Ken Burns’ documentary and the Netflix miniseries When They See Us, Trump stood by his previous statements, saying “You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt. If you look at Linda Fairstein and if you look at some of the prosecutors, they think that the city should never have settled that case. So we’ll leave it at that.” They sued New York City in 2003 for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress.
Commentators noted that Trump’s redirection of the issue towards the anthem controversy was an attempt to play on social and racial issues in order to fire up his base and have connected it to his public criticisms of Black NBA players, Black UCLA basketball players, and a Black anchor on ESPN. Trump praised NFL owners when they voted to allow protesters to be penalized or dismissed for their actions, taking the occasion to suggest that players who didn’t want to stand for the anthem didn’t belong in the country. In August 2016 Colin Kaepernick, an NFL quarterback, began sitting (later kneeling) during the playing of the U.S. national anthem as a protest of police brutality and racial inequality suffered by Black Americans. He ignored their orders and was convicted of contempt of court for continuing to racially profile Hispanics. The illegal tactics that he was using included “extreme racial profiling and sadistic punishments that involved the torture, humiliation, and degradation of Latino inmates”.
He also has a pattern of criticizing African-Americans as unintelligent or racist. He called Puerto Ricans who criticized his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria “politically motivated ingrates.” He is quick to highlight crimes committed by dark-skinned people, sometimes exaggerating or lying about them (such as a claim about growing crime from “radical Islamic terror” in Britain).