Donald Trump is a racist and promotes racist conspiracy theories

The argument

Before and during his first term as president, Donald Trump has expressed racist views, emboldened racists and spread racist conspiracy theories. Joe Biden will be better for race relations because he could not be worse than Donald Trump. When launching his political career, Trump accused Mexico of sending “drugs”, “crime” and “rapists” to the US and during his presidency, there have been well-documented stories of parents being separated from their children and migrants being kept in dangerous conditions on the US-Mexico border. In office, Trump introduced a travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries, citing “terrorism and extremist movements”, and significantly reduced the number of refugees taken in by the US. Trump also promoted the ‘birther’ conspiracy theory about Obama’s citizenship, suggesting that Obama was not born in the US and so was not eligible to serve as president, even after his birth certificate was released by the White House in 2011. In the lead up to the 2020 election, Trump has made similar claims about Joe Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris, suggesting “she doesn’t meet the requirements” to serve. He also told four influential congresswomen of colour known as ‘The Squad’ to “go back” to the “totally broken and crime infested places from which they came” despite three of them being born in the US and the fourth arriving as a refugee and receiving US citizenship as a teenager. More recently, Trump has not condemned white supremacists and right-wing militias as strongly as he should. After a white supremacist killed a counter-protester at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides”. In a recent election debate, he refused to condemn white supremacy and told the Proud Boys, an all-male far-right group, to “stand back and stand by”. These actions inflamed racial tensions and divided Americans. Trump is unapologetic and his victory would lead to four more years of divisive leadership. Trump is a cause of racial tensions, and Biden's presidency is needed to repair the situation.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Donald Trump has made unwise comments at times, but he is not a racist and wants to protect American jobs and lives. Trump does not judge people on their race or religion, but on their individual actions, beliefs and character. It is Joe Biden and the Democrats who are spreading ideas including white privilege and structural racism which serve to reinforce unhelpful stereotypes. Trump is proud of America, its values and its history, and is unapologetic for doing so - but this does not make him a racist.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The premise gathers items of very different kinds — immigration enforcement, a travel restriction, campaign rhetoric — and treats them as one characterisation. Defenders of those measures, including the counter-argument, contest each on separate grounds, so the list does not establish the single motive it attributes. [Rejecting P2] The remarks cited are assigned a settled meaning the argument does not defend. Those who reject the argument read the same statements as aimed at particular individuals and their politics rather than at their race, and the premise does not engage that reading. [Rejecting P3] The step the conclusion actually needs is the one least supported: the argument moves from what one candidate said to how the other would govern, a comparative claim about future race relations that none of the premises addresses. The body concedes as much in resting on the assertion that Biden "could not be worse".