Why do people think Donald Trump is racist?

Serious question. Does anyone have any specific examples of him being racist they can give? I bet the answer is no.

Here's a first hand account of one of his rallies from a black American:

[video]https://www.facebook.com/Tatumbug34/videos/988608861209475/[/video]

He was sued twice for not renting houses to black people.

He refused to condemn his white supremacist supporters.

He described two men arrested for a racial hate crime as passionate.

Fear mongering over whether obama was born in the US, claimed he even sent researchers to hawaii.

Spoke positively about a (made up) story, where a soldier dipped bullets in pigs blood to execute terrorists.

Stereotyped jews as negotiators and good neighbors.

Said mexicans were rapists, though some might be good people.

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He refused to condemn his white supremacist supporters.

As well as what the guy above said here is Trump instantly disavowing support from some KKK guy:

[video="youtube;yseotd_fxWY"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yseotd_fxWY[/video]



Stereotyped jews as negotiators and good neighbors.

This is hardly racist to Jews! Also his daughter, grandchildren, and executive vice president are all Jewish and he's a strong supporter of Israel.

Still no decent evidence of Trump's 'racism' yet!

Being sued for something does not equal to being guilty, from what I understand the allegations are still still just that, allegations.

True, but incredibly misleading, as he wasn't refusing to condemn them because he (allegedly) didn't want to condemn white supremacists, but because he wasn't clear who it was he was supposed to be condemning.

This is more in the vein of supporting the use of violence than it is racism. I couldn't hear what the press asked to give the response he did though.

How is this racist?

Again, how is this racist? It's no different to people talking about the various violence ways they would exact their revenge on pedophiles, rapists and mass murderers.

While certainly stereotyping, I would hardly point to this as an example of him being a racist.

No he didn't. He said that the people immigrating from Mexico were not the best people in Mexico, and among them are rapists. This is more or less a general statement about immigration in general, or at best, a country.

Whether he's racist or not shouldn't be the issue here. Instead, Trump's entire immigration policy needs to be questioned.

Fine, directly maybe this isn't racist. But its definitely an appeal to racism to try and win votes.


I don't really know what you expect in terms of evidence, hes not going to turn around and say it outright because he wants to win votes. But there are too many small suggestions to say that he isn't at least making appeals to racism if he isn't in fact racist himself.

I guess I just want to go with the middle view here: the 'race card' does seem to get played too much in this already largely emotion- and accusation-led debate, even to the exclusion of actual examination of Trump's policies and politics. However, it'd be silly to claim that his stance on race wouldn't have an impact on his policy and therefore on whether people want to trust him to take their interests into account as a leader, and though his remarks aren't conclusive they do at least indicate that we shouldn't hope for progress against discrimination (whether to do with race, sex, ethnicity or sexuality - please do ask for examples!) if he does get in. (...And he's definitely pretty sexist, or at least more obvious about the fact that he's sexist than other candidates, if that's a factor for anyone. Again, though allegations of being sexist or racist shouldn't dominate the discussion, they are relevant and it's reasonable to make your decision on who to vote for based on whether, for example, you think they're likely to tackle problems relating specifically to women.)

IHe's never (as far as I can tell in my five-minute googling, anyhow : P) said anything that decisively and unambiguously demonstrates that he himself harbours racist views; however, statements such as the wall claim and his comments about Mexicans and immigrants in general clearly appeal to xenophobia, and his past support of the frankly ridiculous birther movement in 2011, announcing that he'd sent private investigators to Hawaii to investigate whether Barack Obama was actually born in the US, is hard to dismiss as not at all indicative of racial prejudice - the only other US president whose birthplace was questioned to such a degree (please correct me if I'm wrong) was Chester A Arthur, who died in 1886, and who was accused of immigrating from Ireland, not Indonesia or Kenya (fun fact: Obama's great-great-great grandfather really was from Ireland).

Also, of course, there's the whole thing with the 'complete and total shutdown of Muslims coming to the United States until our representatives can figure out what the hell is going on'. For clarification: "Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Trump’s proposed ban would apply to “everybody”, including Muslims seeking immigration visas as well as tourists seeking to enter the country. Another Trump staffer confirmed that the ban would also apply to American Muslims who were currently overseas – presumably including members of the military and diplomatic service. “This does not apply to people living in the country,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News, “but we have to be vigilant.”" (Biased Guardian quote, but the quotes from Trump and his staff seem to be legit and not taken massively out of context).

You probably could stretch and find some justification for that in terms that don't mention discrimination, but honestly, why even try? Whether or not his policies are racially motivated, regardless of the fact that they appeal to xenophobia and other ethically dubious stuff, he also seems to have participated in scams and, even more than the other candidates, attacks his opponents with gendered vitriol and ad hominem attacks. Plus, he's consistently supported violence against protesters. This doesn't make him a fascist; it doesn't make him evil; but in my book that makes him the kind of man I do not want to have that much power and influence in terms of policy-making.

Ha, that got way too long and rambly, sorry. If you find that any of my sources are unreliable or you want more citations, please tell me!

I see your point but my issue with the entire election process in the U.S. is that far too much focus is placed on the person and not enough on his or her policies. Let's use Hillary Clinton as another example. Her record on tax reform is preposterous to say the least. And yet, she is getting endorsements from many in the business community. Dare I say it because a) she's a Clinton and b) she's a woman? If that really is how the electorate elects the 'leader of the free world', then we need to be fearful as what happens in the U.S. affects us all.
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My issue isn't with whether he is an xenophobe or not; instead, what do his policies say. As a conservative, I dislike a lot of what Trump has to say. His views on healthcare, 'big' government and lack of knowledge of foreign policy means that he does not represent the things I want to see from the world's leading superpower. But I am able to distinguish between him as a person and his ability to implement what he has said. Ideally, I would like for most democracies to be 'direct' in that we hold major referendums on major policies but not everyone has the luxury of being as small and as efficient as Switzerland.
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I would like to however point out that far too many voters are basing their dislike for Trump based on this one fact. It's repeated over and over again in the media. Instead, more focus should be on his overall policies towards immigration (or lack thereof). Most leaders make idiotic statements but we should be educating the electorate to not vote for someone based on what their overall stance is on a major issue.

Appreciate your openness to provide sources. It's not often people are that willing on TSR

And what's wrong with that?