President Donald Trump continued his Twitter assault on four Democratic congresswomen of color Monday, accusing them of being a “very Racist [sic] group of troublemakers who are young, inexperienced, and not very smart.” The “Squad” he is referencing — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) — is but the latest in a long line of racial and ethnic minorities who Trump has smeared as the real racists.

The “Squad” is a very Racist group of troublemakers who are young, inexperienced, and not very smart. They are pulling the once great Democrat Party far left, and were against humanitarian aid at the Border…And are now against ICE and Homeland Security. So bad for our Country! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2019

But when it comes to actual racism, Trump has often not only refused to condemn it, he has regularly engaged in it himself. And he has struggled to distance himself from his white nationalist supporters, sometimes praising them as very good people.

Trump’s Twitter archive tells the story.

When it comes to people of color, Trump time and again has accused them — typically without any evidence — of being racists. These have included:

President Barack Obama

After Obama's '07 racist speech on Katrina relief, he now won't provide any aid to victms of Hurricane Isaac

http://t.co/aQlC849I — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2012

Black voters who preferred Obama to Mitt Romney in 2012

NBC Wall St Journal Poll of African American voters: 94% @BarackObama, 0% @MittRomney.Even worse than Hillary's old numbers. Is that racism? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2012

Filmmaker Spike Lee

Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President, who has done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts,etc.) than almost any other Pres! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019

The ABC sitcom black-ish

How is ABC Television allowed to have a show entitled "Blackish"? Can you imagine the furor of a show, "Whiteish"! Racism at highest level? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2014

Author and talk show host Tavis Smiley

Why does @ThisWeekABC w/ @GStephanopoulos allow a hater & racist like @tavissmiley to waste good airtime? @ABC can do much better than him! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2016

Writer and culture critic Touré

Not only is @Toure a racist (and boring), he's a really dumb guy! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2013

Television host and sportscaster Bryant Gumbel

In that @TimeWarner has @HBO with really dumb racist Bryant Gumbel(and I mean dumb), and no CBS (which fired Bryant), I am switching bldgs. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2013

Trump even took aim at Quentin Tarantino’s film Django Unchained, which he called “racist” for its portrayal of abusive slave owners in the South.


He has been far less critical of actual racism. After demanding that Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley, and Tlaib go back to the countries they came from (all but Omar are natural-born United States citizens; Omar emigrated from Somalia as a child and became a citizen as a child), Trump lashed out at those who called his racist tweets racist.

Those Tweets were NOT Racist. I don’t have a Racist bone in my body! The so-called vote to be taken is a Democrat con game. Republicans should not show “weakness” and fall into their trap. This should be a vote on the filthy language, statements and lies told by the Democrat….. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2019

After a 2017 white nationalist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned deadly, Trump claimed that both the racists and the people gathered to oppose them were equally culpable. He blamed “many sides” while praise the “very fine people on both sides” of the issue.

He defended abusive football coaches, lamenting that it is considered “discriminatory, racist” and “bullying” when they hurl slurs at players.


And as a candidate in 2016, Trump once refused to disavow support from a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, falsely claiming that he knew “nothing about David Duke” and “nothing about white supremacists.”

After white nationalist Rep. Steve King (R-IA) defended white supremacy in January, Trump declined to denounce him, saying, “I really haven’t been following it.” Five years earlier, Trump feted King as a “special guy, a smart person, with really the right views on almost everything.”