Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that Cotton and Perdue told the White House they heard “shithouse” rather than “shithole”. Cotton elaborated that he “did not hear derogatory comments about individuals or persons”, and went on to affirm with the interviewer that the “sentiment attributed to Trump is totally phony”. Republican senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia, also present at the meeting, initially issued a joint statement stating that they “do not recall the President saying those comments specifically”. She said she did not “specifically remember a categorization of countries from Africa.” Asked about the president’s language, Nielsen said, “I don’t remember specific words”, while remembering “the general profanity that was used in the room by almost everyone” but not Dick Durbin. In a statement issued the same day, the White House did not deny that the president made the remarks, but on the following day Trump did tweet out a partial denial, saying that he “never said anything derogatory about Haitians”, and denied using “shithole” specifically to refer to those countries but did admit to using “tough language”.
Native American casino industry
In October 2016, when Trump campaigned to be president, he said that Central Park Five were guilty and that their convictions should never have been vacated, attracting criticism from the Central Park Five themselves and others. During the investigation, four of Trump’s agents admitted to using a “C” (for “colored”) or “9” code to label Black applicants and stated that they were told their company “discouraged rental to blacks” or that they were “not allowed to rent to black tenants,” and that prospective Black renters should be sent to the central office while White renters could have their applications accepted on site. Trump excluded white nationalists from the “very fine people” comment, stating that “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally”. In a racially charged criminal case, Trump continued to state, as late as 2024, that a group known as the Central Park Five mostly made up of African American teenagers were responsible for the 1989 rape of a white woman in the Central Park jogger case, despite the five males having been officially exonerated in 2002. Trump has trafficked in anti-Semitic caricatures, including the tweeting of a six-pointed star alongside a pile of cash.
Dehumanizing rhetoric about undocumented immigrants
Trump has repeatedly denied claims that he is racist, often stating that he is “the least racist person”. At least three-quarters of the attacks were directed at black, Hispanic or Muslim students, but the report also found 45 cases of students being attacked because they were Trump supporters.The survey found that parents, players, or fans had used Trump’s name or his words at least 48 times directed at students competing in elementary, middle and high school sporting events. A 2020 survey of news stories since Trump’s election found 300 reports that involved incidents of student bullying that were related to Trump’s remarks or his MAGA campaign chants. Former grand wizard David Duke spoke calling the demonstrations a “turning point” saying, “We are going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in. That’s why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he’s going to take our country back.” Richard Cohen blamed the recent surge on the divisive language used by Trump throughout his campaign. Trump later claimed to be unaware the term was used in an antisemitic way, and that “The meaning of Shylock is somebody that’s a money lender at high rates. You view it differently. I’ve never heard that.”
During an August 13, 2020, press conference President Trump was asked whether Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s 2020 nominee for VP, was constitutionally eligible to be vice president. The president of one advocacy group, Asian Americans advancing Justice, spoke out saying the administration threatened to discontinue its entire budget, which had ranged between $15 million and $16 million. According to Civil rights groups, not being able to use disparate impact analysis would result in less accountability for organizations with policies that result in racially disparate outcomes, such as discipline for students of color, and treatment of residents of color by their city’s police force. In his book published in September 2020, journalist Bob Woodward describes a recorded interview with Trump in which Woodward talks about white privilege. A memo from Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought says Trump has instructed him to cancel funding for what it calls “divisive, anti-American propaganda”. Many people and organizations such as the NAACP have suggested renaming the bases after military heroes of color.
- She said she did not “specifically remember a categorization of countries from Africa.” Asked about the president’s language, Nielsen said, “I don’t remember specific words”, while remembering “the general profanity that was used in the room by almost everyone” but not Dick Durbin.
- Trump stated that “the left-wing rioting and mayhem are the direct result of decades of left-wing indoctrination in our schools.” The commission was chaired by Carol Swain and Larry Arnn, the president of Hillsdale College.
- On February 24, 2016, David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon, expressed vocal support for Trump’s campaign on his radio show.
- Limbaugh had made numerous statements widely described as racist in his career as a radio personality.
Support from white nationalists and white supremacists
On August 20, 2019, after a reporter asked “Should there be any change in U.S. aid to Israel?”, Donald Trump stated within his answer, “And I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.” The quote caused outrage, shock and disdain from Jewish leaders and citizens in the United States. In a speech on August 5 commenting on the recent shootings, Trump condemned racism and white supremacy, stating “These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America.” On July 28, Trump wrote “There is nothing racist in stating plainly what most people already know, that Elijah Cummings has done a terrible job for the people of his district, and of Baltimore itself. Dems always play the race card when they are unable to win with facts. Shame!”. In response to a journalist, Trump said he wasn’t concerned if white nationalists agreed with him, “because many people agree with me.” NPR has had a policy imposed since January 2018 to generally avoid using the word “racist” when describing the Trump administration, but the news room agreed on an editorial decision to describe Trump’s tweets as racist. The direct application of the term “racist” is typically controversial and avoided in journalism, with euphemisms such as “racially-charged” or “racially-infused” typically used instead.
- During his 2024 campaign, Trump made several dehumanizing comments against undocumented immigrants, and made comments stating they were subhuman.
- 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.
- 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.
- In a speech on August 5 commenting on the recent shootings, Trump condemned racism and white supremacy, stating “These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America.”
- According to Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, Trump has privately made disparaging remarks about minority neighborhoods in Chicago, countries run by black people, an African-American contestant on “The Apprentice” and African-American voters.
- 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.
Anti-Somali remarks
Trump regularly demonized dark-skinned immigrants before the 2018 midterm elections, and his campaign produced an ad — about a caravan of migrants traveling through Mexico — that was so racist even Fox News declined to air it. In December 2015, Trump called for a “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” including refusing to readmit Muslim-American citizens who were outside of the country at the time. Trump treated black employees at his casinos differently from whites, according to multiple sources. Here, we have attempted to compile a definitive list of his racist comments – or at least the publicly known ones.
Mexican immigrants
In November 2018, Facebook, NBC, and Fox News withdrew a controversial political campaign ad which was backed by Trump after critics described it as racist. We would hope that the President would try to understand the facts and realities of the situation in South Africa, rather than repeat disturbing, racially divisive talking points used most frequently by white supremacists. In August 2018, Trump sent a tweet stating that he had ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to look into land seizures and the mass killing of white farmers in South Africa, acting on a racist conspiracy theory. Starting with his presidential run in 2016, Trump has often told the story of “The Snake”, inspired by the song written by Oscar Brown Jr.
Trump’s comments were interpreted by various media outlets as racist and implying that multiracial people must pick one identity to align themselves with. When asked if he believed his opponent in the 2024 presidential election, Kamala Harris, who is biracial as well as the first Black woman and first Indian American major presidential nominee in American history, was a “DEI hire”, he started to question her race, saying that she was always Indian and promoted her Indian identity until she “happened to turn black”. On February 23, 2024, Trump was criticized for comments during a campaign speech for saying his four criminal indictments and mug shot boosted his appeal among black voters and for comparing his legal jeopardy to historical anti-black discrimination, stating that “when I did the mug shot in Atlanta, that mug shot is No. 1. You know who embraced it more than anyone else? The Black population.” Nelson commented, “What we witnessed last night was the president of the United States, with all the country and all the world watching, stand in solidarity with white supremacy. And, unlike his previous comments, this time, he spoke directly to them. He told them to stand back and stand by.”
“White Power” retweet
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who was born in Baltimore, and Senator Elizabeth Warren condemned his remarks as racist. According to a Afua Hirsch, a columnist at The Guardian, Trump has a history of describing largely black populated areas as being “infested”, including African nations in 2014, Atlanta in 2017, sanctuary cities in 2018, and the places he decided the “Squad” should “go back” to in 2019. Klacik, who is also black, reacted positively, believing that Trump had watched her segment.
Representative who had recently left the Republican Party, called the statements “racist and disgusting”. Critics have suggested that Trump’s support of Jackson is “barely veiled racism” as an attempt to appeal to his largely white political base, and point to Jackson’s ownership of slaves and policies towards Native Americans. Some critics viewed this decision as a reflection of Trump’s racism, including Representative Ayanna Pressley, who said “Secretary Mnuchin has allowed Trump’s racism and misogyny to prevent him from carrying out the will of the people.” Trump is a great admirer of Andrew Jackson and had his portrait installed in the Oval Office immediately after moving into the White House. In May 2019, alvexo forex broker during a Trump campaign rally, an audience member suggested shooting illegal migrants crossing the border, to which Trump responded with a joke, saying, “only in the Panhandle you can get away with that”.
Moustafa Bayoumi criticised the Court for upholding the Executive Order, commenting, “The Muslim ban ruling legitimates Trump’s bigotry … and the racist view that Muslims are a unique national security threat because they are Muslims persists. In a Morning Consult poll in August 2016, only 5% of black voters said they intend to vote for Trump. These low rankings are attributed to Trump campaigning in support of a proposed Mexican border wall and his rhetoric against illegal immigration. During the campaign Trump was found to have retweeted the main influencers of the #WhiteGenocide movement over 75 times, including twice that he retweeted a user with the handle @WhiteGenocideTM. 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.
On June 28, 2020, Trump retweeted video footage of Trump supporters and anti-Trump protesters arguing with one another during which a supporter is recorded yelling, among other things, ‘White Power’. In a June 12, 2020, interview with Fox News host Harris Faulkner, a black woman, Trump claimed to have done more for blacks than Abraham Lincoln. Trump initially defended the plans, stating that his rally would be a celebration, but then announced that the rally would be moved to June 20 “out of respect”. Trump had planned to hold his first rally since March on June 19, 2020, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but this provoked an outcry as it would have overlapped Juneteenth—a day commemorating the end of slavery. Mayor Muriel Bowser criticised Trump for stating that protesters who climbed over the White House fence would be met by “the most vicious dogs and ominous of weapons”, saying it was “no subtle reminder to African-Americans of segregationists that let dogs out on women, children and innocent people in the South”.
Other Assorted Racism
David P. Bryden, a professor of law emeritus at the University of Minnesota, suggested that Trump was willing to “vilify all those of any race whom he regards as obstacles to his ambitions.” According to Bryden, Trump’s targets are largely from minority groups because he wants to appeal to white working class voters who believe that progressives resent them. Australian political commentator and former Liberal party leader John Hewson writes in January 2018 that he believes the recent global movements against traditional politics and politicians are based on racism and prejudice. According to a 2021 study in Public Opinion Quarterly, Trump’s candidacy simultaneously attracted whites with extreme views on race and made his white supporters more likely to express more extreme views on race.
Charlottesville rally
During the election season, the Alt-right movement “evangelized” online in support of racist and anti-semitic ideologies. From the outset of his campaign, Trump was endorsed by various white nationalist and white supremacist movements and leaders. Green’s articles of impeachment assert that Trump has “brought the high office of president of the United States in contempt, ridicule, disgrace and disrepute” and “has sown discord among the people of the United States”. John Lewis said “I’ve got to be moved by my conscience,” and Barbara Lee said “This president does not respect the office, he dishonors it.” Frederica Wilson, whom Trump called “wacky” after she supported the wife of a soldier killed in Niger, also skipped the address. In her latest work, published in 2018, she reports on her conversations with young people as related to the election of Trump as president. Sociologist Margaret Hagerman studies and writes about young people’s views on racism and current events in America.
And it’s probably not his fault, because laziness is a trait in blacks.” Trump’s real-estate company tried to avoid renting apartments to African-Americans in the 1970s and gave preferential treatment to whites, according to the federal government. He then launched his campaign with a speech describing Mexicans as rapists. 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. According to a July 2019 Politico/Morning Consult poll, 54% of American voters viewed Trump as racist and 38% did not.
On July 30, Trump said that “thousands” of people have told his administration they were “thankful” for his comments on Baltimore, in particular the black majority of the residents of Baltimore, who he said were “living in hell”. 489 which says the House “strongly condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.” Four Republican representatives (Brian Fitzpatrick, Fred Upton, Will Hurd and Susan Brooks) joined the Democratic majority and independent Justin Amash in a 240-to-187 vote. 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.