Racial views of Donald Trump
Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, has a history of speech and actions that have widely been viewed as racist or racially charged. Journalists, friends, and former employees have accused him of fueling racism in the United States. Trump, however, has repeatedly denied accusations of racism.
Quotes by Donald Trump
- Donald Trump: Do you like it?
Howard Stern: Yes
Trump to Robin Quivers: Do you like it?
Quivers: Well, I think you’re going to have a riot.
Trump:It would be the highest-rated show on television,”- About pit an all-white team against an all-black team for the fourth season of The Apprentice, on Howard Stern’s radio show in April 2005. Quoted in Trump Employs an Old Tactic: Using Race for Gain (July 20, 2019) by Peter Baker, Michael M. Grynbaum, Maggie Haberman, Annie Karni and Russ Buettner.
- A well-educated black has a tremendous advantage over a well-educated white in terms of the job market. I think sometimes a black may think they don't have an advantage or this and that... I've said on one occasion, even about myself, if I were starting off today, I would love to be a well-educated black, because I believe they do have an actual advantage.
- The R.A.C.E., NBC, quoted in Porter, David D. (13 September 1989), "What Must Blacks Go Through?", Orlando Sentinel, retrieved on 2011-06-06
- I have a great relationship with the blacks. I've always had a great relationship with the blacks.
- Robinson, Eugene (18 April 2011), "Donald Trump as GOP hopeful: Take him seriously", The Washington Post, retrieved on 2011-05-07
- Mitt Romney had his chance to beat a failed president but he choked like a dog. Now he calls me racist-but I am least racist person there is
- Twitter (11 June 2016)
- It's just, like, a total catastrophe, the unemployment rates, everything is bad — no health care, no education, no anything, no anything. And poverty is unbelievable. Then, I said, ‘Hey, wait a minute, vote for me. What have you got to lose? You can't do worse, you can't do any worse than what these people have been doing and I will do better.
- About African Americans in the United States, interview with Fox News' Jeanine Pirro. [1] (August 21, 2016)
- So here's the story folks. Number one, I am the least anti-Semitic person that you've ever seen, in your entire life. Number two, racism, the least racist person, in fact we did very well, relative to other people running as a Republican. [Shouts from the crowd] Quiet, quiet, quiet! See he lied about he was going to get up and ask a very straight, simple question, so, you know, so welcome to the world of the media. But let me just tell you something, that, erm, I hate the charge, I find it repulsive, I hate even the question because people that know me, and you heard the Prime Minister, you heard, er, Netanyahu yesterday, you do hear him, Bibi, he said, "I've known Donald Trump for a long time", and then he said, "Forget it!" So you should take that and, instead of having to get up and ask a very insulting question.
- Comments made during a news conference at the White House (16 February 2017)
- If you're telling me they're horrible people, horrible racist people, I would certainly apologize, if you'd like me to do that.
- Interviewed on Good Morning Britain about his retweeting of inflammatory and unverified anti-Muslim videos from Britain First the previous November (26 January 2018)
- We had a great event yesterday, an event that was so beautiful, young African American leaders. One of the things I asked them, and I’ve been thinking about this for a long time… And great people, great people. Some of them are here tonight. Do you like the name African American or Black? And they said, “Black!” all at the same time. No, true. I tell you. Because you say, “African American or Black?” And they said almost immediately, “Black.”
- Charleston, South Carolina Rally (February 28, 2020), transcript online at Rev.
Disputed
- [B]lack people are too stupid to vote for me.
- As quoted in "Michael Cohen Says Trump Repeatedly Used Racist Language in Private" (2 November 2018), by Emily Jane Fox, Vanity Fair
- Name one country run by a black person that's not a shithole... Name one city.
- As quoted in "Michael Cohen Says Trump Repeatedly Used Racist Language in Private" (2 November 2018), by Emily Jane Fox, Vanity Fair
- I have 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. Those are the kind of people I want counting my money. Nobody else. Besides that, I've got to tell you something else. I think that the guy is lazy. And it's probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It's not anything they can control... Don't you agree?
- "Wrongly attributed" to Trump, who said the book with the alleged quote was "written by a fired and totally disgruntled employee who was terrible at the job he did and who I hardly knew." (Washington Examiner, 8 July 2015)
- "Recalled" by John "Jack" O'Donnell, former president of Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino. O'Donnell, John R.; Rutherford, James (1 January 1991), Trumped!: The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump -His Cunning Rise and Spectacular Fall, New York: Simon & Schuster, ISBN 9780671737351, OCLC 23355814, cited in "Ignoring Trump's Record of Racism". Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. 2011-05-06. Retrieved on 2011-05-07. "But did Trump actually utter those words? Who knows?" — Howard Kurtz (May 10, 1991). "Duck, Donald! Trump-Size Tackiness". The Washington Post.
- Donald Trump: "I never said it. I hardly know this guy. He was running one of my casinos for a short period of time. He was fired—we fired him because he wasn't doing a very good job. He wrote this nasty book. He made up stuff... This guy, I hardly know him. He made up this quote. I've heard the quote before, and it's nonsense... I've never said anything like it, ever." – Meet the Press (24 October, 1999)
Quotes about Trump's racial views
A
- [Donald Trump] seems to harbor racist feelings about people of color from other parts of the world.
- Jim Acosta, as quoted in "CNN's Acosta: Trump 'seems to harbor racist feelings'" (11 January 2018), by Brett Samuels, The Hill
B
- Trump Is a Racist. Period.
- Charles M. Blow, as quoted in "Trump Is a Racist. Period" (14 January 2018), by Charles M. Blow, The New York Times
- What Trump is doing has popped up periodically, but in modern times, no president has been so racially insensitive and shown outright disdain for people who aren't white.
- Douglas Brinkley, as quoted in "Trump's own words revive debate over whether he's racist", AP News
- [Donald Trump is] clearly racist... It fits into a pattern that we have seen since the beginning of his career, maybe through his father's career, frankly. There's been a consistency, pattern of harsh judgment against black and brown people.
- David Brooks, as quoted in "Shields and Brooks on Trump's 's***hole' comments, 'Fire and Fury' fallout" (14 January 2018), PBS Newshour
C
- We have a racist in the Oval Office.
- John Cassidy, "A Racist in the Oval Office" (12 January 2018), The New Yorker
- Let me put it this way, I think he is very eager not to upset the racists who like him. Too eager.
- Mona Charen, as quoted in "Ep. 261: Kavanaugh, Anonymous, and Us" (6 September 2018), Need to Know, Ricochet
- In 2015, Trump launched his own campaign for President with another racist lie. He described Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals. And he accused the Mexican government of actively sending them across the border. None of that is true. Oh, and by the way, Mexico’s not paying for his wall either. If it ever gets built, you can be sure that American taxpayers will be stuck with the bill. Since then, there’s been a steady stream of bigotry.
- Hillary Clinton, speech in Reno, Nevada. Transcript by Vox, "Hillary Clinton Speech Alt Right" (August 25, 2016)
- Trump claims he's surprised his election has unleashed a barrage of hate across the country. But he shouldn't be. It's the predictable result of the campaign he waged. Rather than feign surprise, Mr. Trump should take responsibility for what's occurring, forcefully reject hate and bigotry, reach out to the communities he's injured, and follow his words with actions to heal the wounds his words have opened.
- Richard Cohen, as quoted in "Trump's election led to 'barrage of hate', report finds" (November 2016), by Mazin Sidahmed, The Guardian
- 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.
- Susan Collins, as quoted in "Mainers defend Somali neighbors against Trump" (5 August 2016), The Boston Globe
F
- For the fourth year in a row, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks hate groups, reports that hate and domestic extremism are rising in an unabated trend. The center found a 30 percent increase in U.S. hate groups over the past four years and a 7 percent increase in hate groups in 2018 alone, according to the center's annual "Year in Hate and Extremism" report. The group designated 1,020 organizations as hate groups in 2018, a high of at least 20 years.
The watchdog group blames President Trump, his administration, right-wing media outlets and the ease of spreading hate on social media platforms for the alarming increase. The growth, it says, is largely driven by "hysteria over losing a white-majority nation to demographic change."
"The numbers tell a striking story — that this president is not simply a polarizing figure but a radicalizing one," Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, said in a statement. "Rather than trying to tamp down hate, as presidents of both parties have done, President Trump elevates it — with both his rhetoric and his policies. In doing so, he's given people across America the go-ahead to to act on their worst instincts."- Leila Fadel, “U.S. Hate Groups Rose 30 Percent In Recent Years, Watchdog Group Reports”, All Things Considered, NPR, (February 20, 2019)
H
- The facts here are clear: These men were exonerated. Another man has admitted to committing the crime, as proven by DNA evidence. Trump rushed to judgment on the case, has refused to admit he is wrong and continues to peddle yet another racist lie.
- Maya Harris, on Trump's assertion that the men originally convicted of the Central Park jogger case are guilty despite their subsequent exoneration and despite the identification, arrest, and conviction of the actual perpetrator.
- "Hillary for America Statement on Trump’s Comments Related to Central Park Jogger Case" (October 7 2016)
- There should be little doubt about US President Donald Trump's views on race, despite his occasional 'denials', assertions of 'fake news', and/or his semantic distinctions. His election campaign theme was effectively a promise to 'Make America Great Again; America First and Only' and – nod, nod, wink, wink.
- John Hewson, "No place for the race card in the political pack, but Trump plays it anyway" (January 2018), The Sydney Morning Herald
K
- [I]n many ways, he embodies nearly every aspect of a racist. He's someone who regularly expresses racist ideas, like Latinx immigrants are invading this country, that Mexicans are animals, that black people live in hell, that their communities are infested. But then he simultaneously is supporting policies that specifically target racial groups. We're seeing what's happening at the southern border. We see the ways in which his policies, he's not seeking to protect black people being killed by police. We can see the Muslim ban.
And then when you put that all together, when we charge him with being racist, what does he say? He says, no, no. I'm not racist. I'm actually the least-racist person you've ever interviewed. I'm actually the least-racist person in the world. And so his consistent denial of his racism is the heartbeat of racism.- Ibram X. Kendi, as interviewed by Rachel Martin in “How Racism Has Evolved Over The Last 2 U.S. Presidencies” (August 14, 2019), NPR Morning Edition.
- I don't see what else we can call him but a racist.
- Nicholas Kristof, as quoted in "Mr. Trump, Meet a Hero Whom You Maligned" (12 January 2018), by Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times
L
- [N]o matter what your feelings are about Trump, you should hope that these tapes, if they do exist, never see the light of day. It sounds counterintuitive. But let’s game out—honestly—what we think would happen if such a tape of the future president of the United States surfaced tomorrow. Do you think he’d lose support from his base? Do you think he’d pay a price for lying about the tape’s existence? Or for using the N-word? I do not. Everything we know about the president's base supporters suggests that there is no straw that will break the camel's back—only goalposts, receding constantly to the horizon.
- Jonathan V. Last, "Let’s Hope There Is No Tape of Trump Using the N-Word" (2018), The Weekly Standard
M
- [Donald Trump is] this racist 94-year-old grandpa.
- Marshall B. Mathers, as quoted in "Eminem Calls Donald Trump a “Racist 94-Year-Old Grandpa” in a Freestyle so Fire, Trump’s Gonna Need Ice for Those Burns: Political Eminem is my new favorite Eminem." (11 October 2017), by Andrea Wurzburger, VH1
- His hateful rhetoric has no place in the White House.
- Jim McGovern, as quoted in "Lawmakers condemn Trump's 'shithole' remark" (January 2018), by Sophie Tatum and Ashley Killough, CNN
- Everything is a racial stereotype with him half the time; we've got to admit that about Trump.
- Mike Murphy, interview with Bill Kristol (20 June 2017), transcript
- [T]he larger moral cowardice that has overtaken the party... Trump's shtick is that he's the grievance candidate... He's focused on the economically squeezed Caucasian voter... He is speaking to that rage. Mexican rapists, clever Chinese traders, African American people as dogs. That's Trump's DNA.
- Mike Murphy, as quoted in "'I'm not going there': As Trump hurls racial invective, most Republicans stay silent" (18 August 2018), by Ashley Parker and Robert Costa, The Washington Post
S
- We have a president, and I say this without any joy in my heart, who is a racist. It’s hard to believe that we have a president of the United States who is, in fact, a racist.
- Bernie Sanders, "Bernie Sanders calls Trump a racist before Apollo event" (05 April 2019), AP News
- Perhaps Trump is a racist. Perhaps not. Either way, we can have a productive conversation about whether particular Trump statements or actions are racist. But we can't have a productive conversation that starts from the premise that Trump is a racist overall, and that every action he takes and every statement he makes is therefore covered with the patina of racism. That conversation is about insults, not truth.
- Ben Shapiro, "What's the Point of Labeling Trump a Racist?" (17 January 2018), National Review
W
- Trump is a racial arsonist who encourages bigotry and xenophobia to rouse his base and advance his electoral prospects. In this, he inspires imitators.
- Joe Walsh, "Joe Walsh: Trump Needs a Primary Challenge" (14 August 2019), The New York Times
- This is racism, plain and simple, and we need to call it that.
- Tim Walz, as quoted in "Trump's 's---hole' remark sparks bipartisan backlash B" (January 2018), by John Bowden, The Hill
- He claims that he's bringing people together but make no mistake, he is a dangerous, unprincipled, divisive, and shameful racist.
- Maxine Waters, as quoted in "Maxine Waters Delivers Scathing SOTU Response: 'Make No Mistake. Trump Is a Dangerous Racist'", by Tess Koman, Cosmopolitan
- [M]y own view is that Donald Trump is incapable of being a racist in the traditional sense of that word, because racism is derived from a perverted and misapplied sense of loyalty, a sentiment from which President Trump is manifestly immune.
- Kevin D. Williamson, "Trump’s Omar Comments and Our Eroding Sense of Citizenship" (21 July 2019), National Review
- He [Donald Trump] doesn't mind being called a racist, because he is one.
- Rick Wilson, as quoted in "Rick Wilson on the Battle of the Framing" (24 July 2019), by Charlie Sykes, The Bulwark
- Trump is a walking contradiction – but his nativism is consistent. [...] Watching this pinball president ricochet around Europe, you could be forgiven for thinking there’s no method to Donald Trump’s madness. Nato is both a rip-off and very strong. Theresa May’s Brexit plan is both pathetic and terrific. Trump’s interview with the Sun was both fake news and generally fine. Trump has all the consistency of Katy Perry’s Hot N Cold, except when it comes to two things: immigrants and Vladimir Putin.
- Immigration is where Trump’s journey begins and ends: the message running all the way through this stick of rock. [...] There was a time when politicians like you preferred to use a dog whistle, but those days seem quaint now. There’s something to be said for using a foghorn to blast your racism across the continents. At least we all know what kind of politics you represent.
- The president of the United States just threatened the safety and security of immigrants the world over. [...] So now we know. The reason Trump ordered the separation of thousands of immigrant children from their parents – some never to be reunited again – was because they better watch themselves. They are changing the culture and it better stop or else they’ll get hurt. Trump has mused before about how good it would be to deport people without judges messing things up. He doesn’t consider his own country’s ample immigration laws to be actual laws that he respects. It’s one short step for a president – but one long step for democracy – to go from disrespecting the laws to ignoring them. This is the language and mentality of so many extreme-right and neo-Nazi parties in Europe. So in the Trump spirit of saying it loud, it’s time to drop the euphemisms: Trump is today’s first major government to be led by the racist far right. It’s not some kind of new populist politics; it’s the old National Front.
See also
External links
- Encyclopedic article on Racial views of Donald Trump on Wikipedia