Is Donald Trump racist?

[Nous]

You don't make a strong case.
Note the vague language, "....were involved in banning blacks...".
You don't cite the actual adjudication of a specific case.

Here are a few facts that Metis was referring to:

One of Donald’s first challenges came in October 1973, when the Justice Department hit the Trump Organization with a major discrimination suit for violating the Fair Housing Act. The Times reported:

… the Government contended that Trump Management had refused to rent or negotiate rentals “because of race and color.” It also charged that the company had required different rental terms and conditions because of race and that it had misrepresented to blacks that apartments were not available.​

The journalist Gwenda Blair reported in her 2005 Trump biography that while Fred Trump had sought to combat previous discrimination allegations through “quiet diplomacy,” Donald decided to go on the offensive. He hired his friend Roy Cohn, the celebrity lawyer and former Joseph McCarthy aide, to countersue the government for making baseless charges against the company. They sought a staggering $100 million in damages.

A few months after the government filed the suit, Trump gave a combative press conference at the New York Hilton in which he went after the Justice Department for being too friendly to welfare recipients. He “accused the Justice Department of singling out his corporation because it was a large one and because the Government was trying to force it to rent to welfare recipients,” the Times reported. Trump added that if welfare recipients were allowed into his apartments in certain middle-class outer-borough neighborhoods, there would be a “massive fleeing from the city of not only our tenants, but communities as a whole.”

A federal judge threw out Trump’s countersuit a month later, calling it a waste of “time and paper.”

Writes Blair in her book:

Donald testified repeatedly that he had nothing to do with renting apartments, although in an application for a broker’s license filed at the same time he said that he was in charge of all rentals.​

In 1975, Trump ultimately came to a far-reaching agreement with the DOJ in which he and the company did not admit guilt but agreed not to discriminate and to take steps to open its housing stock to more nonwhites. The company agreed to submit a weekly list of vacancies to the Urban League, which would produce qualified applicants for a portion of all vacancies.

But it didn’t end there. In 1978, the government filed a motion for supplemental relief, charging that the Trump company had not complied with the 1975 agreement. The government alleged that the Trump company “discriminated against blacks in the terms and conditions of rental, made statements indicating discrimination based on race and told blacks that apartments were not available for inspection and rental when, in fact, they are,” the Times reported. Trump again denied the charges.

It’s not clear what happened with the government’s request for further action (and compensation for victims), but in 1983, a fair-housing activist cited statistics that two Trump Village developments had white majorities of at least 95 percent.​

Donald Trump’s racial discrimination problem

 

[sun rise]

Even conservatives and military people denounce racists but the haters praise him.

GEN Mark A. Milley‏Verified account @ArmyChiefStaff 9h9 hours ago The Army doesn't tolerate racism, extremism, or hatred in our ranks. It's against our Values and everything we've stood for since 1775.

The racists praise Trump.

(I don't care to debate the meaning of the word 'racist'. Use other words if that one bothers you such as "anti-American", "evil" etc)

 

[Sanzbir]

Anyone who believes in the concept of race is a racist. Outside of, perhaps, the scientific classification of race. Though I don't think most people who use the term "race" are refering to the scientific classification, since under that classification system the Irish, the Indians, the Mexicans, the Arabs, and the Somalis are all the same race.

 

[Nous]

Anyone who believes in the concept of race is a racist.

No, "believing in the concept of race" does not mean that one has an irrational animus toward persons of other "races." The fact that "race" cannot be justified genetically or biologically does not excuse Trump's racism.

 

[Jumi]

He has shown some racist tendencies, but that is just my personal bias talking so take that with a grain of salt. With that said, I am in no position to give a definitive statement of yay or nay.

I agree with you. I've seen signs that point either way. To the degree he has shown tendencies to it, I don't think are positive.

 

[BSM1]

More plausible explanation. He wanted more members in his club.

I don't think anyone is accusing him of being a "rabid racist". But, if you court, sympathize and try to protect support from racist groups, I think that puts you on the spectrum of racism. Honestly, I think he doesn't care about racism. He is a Trump Supremacist. Anyone who isn't as successful as him and isn't in the military is a loser, unless they kiss his a$$.

Of course...

 

[BSM1]

He has shown some racist tendencies, but that is just my personal bias talking so take that with a grain of salt. With that said, I am in no position to give a definitive statement of yay or nay.

How?

 

[Twilight Hue]

His pass behavior and current reactions should at least make most rational people stop and consider this question. So what do you think: Is Donald Trump racist?

I dunno. Was he regarded by people as a racist before he decided to run for president, or was he regarded by people as being a racist after he became president?

 

[Jeremiahcp]

I dunno. Was he regarded by people as a racist before he decided to run for president, or was he regarded by people as being a racist after he became president?

Trump and his father have been accused of being racist in the past several times. His father was even accused of having connections to the KKK, whether that claim has any merit I don't know, but the stink of racism has hung over the Trump family for a long time.

 

[Revoltingest]

There is plenty of evidence backing up this story.

This has been oft said, but I've yet to see details showing that Trump personally pursued or even tacitly allowed racist policies. Having endured fair housing suits myself, I know firsthand that one cannot judge solely by the filing or settling of a suit. I once settled a $1,000,000 suit against me for $400. After $10,000 or so in legal fees, my client (who was footing the bill) decided not to spend another $100,000 in federal court to win. It was an utterly bogus suit, but if I ran for office, I'm sure I'd be decried as refusing to rent to the handicapped (which he claimed to be).

But, it's not worth getting into it here. I would suggest looking at some of the personal testimonies. And, I don't think he did this because of racism, per se. He was under the false impression that black people would not pay as much. I think to him it was about money.

I'm not making the claim, so I won't be doing the homework to support it.

 

[Revoltingest]

Here are a few facts that Metis was referring to:

One of Donald’s first challenges came in October 1973, when the Justice Department hit the Trump Organization with a major discrimination suit for violating the Fair Housing Act. The Times reported:

… the Government contended that Trump Management had refused to rent or negotiate rentals “because of race and color.” It also charged that the company had required different rental terms and conditions because of race and that it had misrepresented to blacks that apartments were not available.​

The journalist Gwenda Blair reported in her 2005 Trump biography that while Fred Trump had sought to combat previous discrimination allegations through “quiet diplomacy,” Donald decided to go on the offensive. He hired his friend Roy Cohn, the celebrity lawyer and former Joseph McCarthy aide, to countersue the government for making baseless charges against the company. They sought a staggering $100 million in damages.

A few months after the government filed the suit, Trump gave a combative press conference at the New York Hilton in which he went after the Justice Department for being too friendly to welfare recipients. He “accused the Justice Department of singling out his corporation because it was a large one and because the Government was trying to force it to rent to welfare recipients,” the Times reported. Trump added that if welfare recipients were allowed into his apartments in certain middle-class outer-borough neighborhoods, there would be a “massive fleeing from the city of not only our tenants, but communities as a whole.”

A federal judge threw out Trump’s countersuit a month later, calling it a waste of “time and paper.”

Writes Blair in her book:

Donald testified repeatedly that he had nothing to do with renting apartments, although in an application for a broker’s license filed at the same time he said that he was in charge of all rentals.​

In 1975, Trump ultimately came to a far-reaching agreement with the DOJ in which he and the company did not admit guilt but agreed not to discriminate and to take steps to open its housing stock to more nonwhites. The company agreed to submit a weekly list of vacancies to the Urban League, which would produce qualified applicants for a portion of all vacancies.

But it didn’t end there. In 1978, the government filed a motion for supplemental relief, charging that the Trump company had not complied with the 1975 agreement. The government alleged that the Trump company “discriminated against blacks in the terms and conditions of rental, made statements indicating discrimination based on race and told blacks that apartments were not available for inspection and rental when, in fact, they are,” the Times reported. Trump again denied the charges.

It’s not clear what happened with the government’s request for further action (and compensation for victims), but in 1983, a fair-housing activist cited statistics that two Trump Village developments had white majorities of at least 95 percent.​

Donald Trump’s racial discrimination problem

The quoted text is of the where-there's-smoke-there-must-be-fire variety.
But sometimes where there's smoke there's only hot air.
Perhaps he did effect policies which illegally discriminated.
But claims deserve to be supported by evidenced cogent argument.

 

[Quetzal]

How?

Sure, here are a few examples that give me pause.

1. In May, Trump implied that Gonzalo Curiel, the federal judge presiding over a class action against the for-profit Trump University, could not fairly hear the case because of his Mexican heritage.
   
   “He’s a Mexican,” Trump told CNN of Curiel. “We’re building a wall between here and Mexico. The answer is, he is giving us very unfair rulings — rulings that people can’t even believe.”
   
   
2. When Trump was serving as the president of his family’s real estate company, the Trump Management Corporation, in 1973, the Justice Department sued the company for alleged racial discrimination against black people looking to rent apartments in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.
   
   Without admitting wrongdoing, the Trump Management Corporation settled the original lawsuit two years later and promised not to discriminate against black people, Puerto Ricans or other minorities. Trump also agreed to send weekly vacancy lists for his 15,000 apartments to the New York Urban League, a civil rights group, and to allow the NYUL to present qualified applicants for vacancies in certain Trump properties.
   
   Just three years after that, the Justice Department sued the Trump Management Corporation again for allegedly discriminating against black applicants by telling them apartments weren’t available.
   
   
3. Workers at Trump’s casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, have accused him of racism over the years. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission fined the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino $200,000 in 1992 because managers would remove African-American card dealers at the request of a certain big-spending gambler. A state appeals court upheld the fine.
   
   
4. Next in the Trump record on race came a 1991 book by John O’Donnell, who had been president of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. O’Donnell quoted Trump saying,“ Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys wearing yarmulkes… Those are the only kind of people I want counting my money. Nobody else…Besides that, I tell you something else. I think that’s guy’s lazy. And it’s probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks.”
   
   O’Donnell’s report was shocking, but Trump did not contest it at the time. In 1997 he was interviewed for Playboy by author Mark Bowden and he confirmed that the O’Donnell book was “probably true.”
   

 

[Stevicus]

His pass behavior and current reactions should at least make most rational people stop and consider this question. So what do you think: Is Donald Trump racist?

Probably, although racist can be a matter of degree, depending on how intense it is or whether there's outright malice involved. Some people might be racist because they believe certain silly stereotypes, but that doesn't mean they wish any harm upon anyone. Some racism is simply due to ignorance or being raised in a different period in history (such as my parents' and grandparents' generations).

With Trump, it's hard to say. It wouldn't surprise me if he is a racist, but to what degree, it's difficult to tell. A lot of people have compared him to Hitler, but I can't believe that he's really that bad.

My grandfather grew up in an earlier era, in an area of the country which was profoundly racist. However, in his later years, he tried to turn over a new leaf and show more tolerance and progressive thinking. But he would still end up putting his foot in his mouth and say things like "Many of my best friends are colored." But he was generally a good-natured and friendly guy that people would forgive little gaffes like that.

 

[idav]

With Trump, it's hard to say. It wouldn't surprise me if he is a racist, but to what degree, it's difficult to tell. A lot of people have compared him to Hitler, but I can't believe that he's really that bad.

My grandfather grew up in an earlier era, in an area of the country which was profoundly racist. However, in his later years, he tried to turn over a new leaf and show more tolerance and progressive thinking. But he would still end up putting his foot in his mouth and say things like "Many of my best friends are colored." But he was generally a good-natured and friendly guy that people would forgive little gaffes like that.

With people Trumps age I almost expect it a little. Reminds me of my grandfather-in-law.

 

[Sanzbir]

No, "believing in the concept of race" does not mean that one has an irrational animus toward persons of other "races." The fact that "race" cannot be justified genetically or biologically does not excuse Trump's racism.

Sure it does. If you believe a non-genetic thing such as skin color separates humans into groups, how can you claim to not have any sort of prejudice while simultaneously grouping people together mentally on the basis of an irrational standard.

Also I don't recall trying to "excuse" anything. Can you point out where you are seeing such a thing??

 

[Nous]

The quoted text is of the where-there's-smoke-there-must-be-fire variety.

You criticized Metis for not providing the details of the case against Trump for racial discrimination. I quoted some of the details.

 

[Nous]

a non-genetic thing such as skin color

Say what? Skin color is "non-genetic"? Where did you get that idea?

Anyway, people's racial bigotry is not dependent upon the idea of various human races being valid genetic or biological classes. Racial bigotry is expressed on the basis of overt skin color, hair texture, country or continent or region of ancestral origin, and culture. The racism that President Obama has spoken of as being subjected to during his earlier years doesn't disappear as a result of what his genetic make-up might be.

 

[tytlyf]

You don't have to be a member of the KKK or white supremacist group to be a racist. If you defend and agree with their agenda, you're just as bad.

Trump is working with known racists and doing their bidding. Being an enabler is just as bad as being a racist. Trump's base may not be members of either group, but they sure do agree with what these groups are doing. And the mentality behind it.

 

[jonathan180iq]

DJT is certainly an Ego-centrist, which I think necessarily implies a bit of racism, along with most other ism's.

 

[Revoltingest]

You criticized Metis for not providing the details of the case against Trump for racial discrimination. I quoted some of the details.

Your details didn't support the claim that Trump was racist,
only that there were fair housing violations & that some
working for him could be called racist.