Is Donald Trump Racist? A Debate With Trump Supporters

TL;DR

Dean Withers, a 19-year-old liberal who debates politics for a living, faces 20 Trump supporters and argues Trump is racist using three examples: 1970s DOJ civil litigation over refusing to rent to Black tenants, the birther claim that Obama was not US-born, and remarks that Kamala Harris "turned black." Supporters counter with the First Step Act and HBCU funding; Dean cites $250 million per year under Trump versus $1 billion under Obama and $4 billion under Biden.

Transcript

there's two main categorical reasons why I say Harris would be better than Trump the first category is character speaking of which you know if we're bringing up stuff from the past we can say she slept with Willie Brown broke up a family just to get her job she got 4.5 million votes to get into Ag and da and slept with zero of them how you feel abo... Read More

Key Insights

• The 1970s civil litigation against Trump was brought by the DOJ and the state of New York over refusing to rent to Black applicants. Investigators used paired testers, and a property manager said the instruction came from his boss, Donald Trump.
• The settlement of that housing case required Trump to promise the DOJ he would no longer racially profile in housing applications, and to place ads in a New York newspaper addressed to Black renters, according to Dean's account of the case.
• HBCU funding under Trump was $250 million per year, compared with $1 billion per year under Obama and $4 billion per year under Biden, the figures Dean cites to argue that funding to historically Black universities decreased rather than increased.
• The First Step Act was originally proposed to Congress under the Obama administration and was shot down there, Dean argues, which is why he rejects the claim that Trump influenced the bill's passage through Congress rather than simply signing it.
• A president's veto is the counterargument the Trump supporter uses: every president can send a bill back to Congress, so signing the First Step Act was a choice, and a truly racist president would not have signed it in the first place.
• The birther movement is Dean's second example, the claim that Barack Obama was not a US-born citizen because his family came from Kenya. One participant defends it as legitimate questioning of the birth certificate and says he believes it may have been falsified.
• Dean's stated test for racism is whether an action takes away opportunity from a Black man because he is Black, a definition the participant he asks agrees with before pivoting to what Trump did while in office rather than in 1970.
• Dean concedes that Joe Biden has a racist past and says it should be recognized, positioning his objection not as partisan defense but as opposition to denying that Trump's racism occurred when he considers the record obvious.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is the format of the Surrounded video with Dean Withers?

Dean Withers, a 19-year-old liberal who says he does political debate for a living, sits surrounded by 20 Trump supporters. He states a claim, in this case that Donald Trump is a racist, and supporters take turns coming forward to challenge him one at a time. Participants can interject, and the exchanges become heated enough that Dean asks more than once to be allowed to finish a point. The video is produced by Jubilee Media and features named participants including Alissa, Omar, Sarah, Michael, and others listed in the description.

Q: What is the 1970s housing case Dean Withers cites as evidence Trump is racist?

Dean describes civil litigation brought in the 1970s by the DOJ and the state of New York over Trump's rental properties. Investigators sent in what he calls testers: a white person would ask the property manager about available properties and be given a housing application, then a Black tester would ask the same question and be denied. When the DOJ investigated, the property manager said this was an order from his boss, Donald Trump. The case resulted in a promise to the DOJ that he would no longer racially profile in housing applications, plus ads placed in a New York newspaper.

Q: How much HBCU funding did Trump provide compared to Obama and Biden?

According to the figures Dean Withers cites in the debate, Trump sent $250 million per year to historically Black colleges and universities. Obama's administration sent $1 billion per year and Biden's administration sent $4 billion per year. Dean uses this comparison to rebut the participant who argued that Trump's in-office record helped the Black community more than other administrations, arguing that the numbers show funding to HBCUs decreased under Trump rather than increased.

Q: Why do Trump supporters cite the First Step Act as proof he is not racist?

The supporter's argument is that actions in office matter more than events from 1970, and that the First Step Act gave incarcerated people, a population liberals point out is majority African American, an opportunity to get out early and start a new life. The core of the claim is the signature itself: every president has the ability to send a bill back to Congress if they do not like it, so choosing to sign it was a deliberate act. As the supporter puts it, if he were truly racist, he would not have signed it in the first place.

Q: How does Dean Withers respond to the First Step Act argument?

Dean asks how Trump influenced the bill's passage through Congress and answers his own question: he did not. Dean says the legislation was proposed to Congress under Obama's administration and was shot down there, so credit for the bill's origin does not belong to Trump. He also argues that one signed bill cannot cancel out the other examples. In his words, he understands the act does something for the African American community, but he does not accept that doing this one thing renders all the other examples null and void.

Q: What arguments do the Trump supporters make that he is not racist?

The first participant says his family immigrated legally from Cuba and Mexico, rejects the idea that all Hispanics are undocumented immigrants, and says he has seen no statement from Trump that is racist, only accusations without facts. He adds that Trump employs many minorities including Black, Asian, and Hispanic staff, and says he has visited Trump properties himself. He also argues the DOJ was weaponized against Trump because he made political statements Democrats disliked, calling the housing investigation a witch hunt, and notes Trump was once a registered Democrat.

Q: What is the birther argument raised in the debate?

Dean raises the birther movement as an example, saying that around 2012 to 2014 Trump claimed Barack Obama was not a US-born citizen because his family came from Kenya. A participant defends it as legitimate questioning of Obama's birth certificate and says a friend, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, looked into the claims and there were questions of whether the certificate was falsified. Dean counters by asking whether Trump's own mother, a Scottish immigrant, should have her birth certificate questioned, and then tells the participant he is being racist, which the participant denies.

Q: Does Dean Withers criticize Democrats during the debate?

Yes. When a participant raises Joe Biden's record as a senator pushing policies that incarcerated African Americans at higher rates, Dean says he has no problem stating that Joe Biden has a racist past and that this is something he needs to recognize and everyone should recognize. He frames his objection differently: what he says he cannot stand is people denying Trump's racism and saying it never occurred when he considers it obvious. He also opens the video by defining two categorical reasons he prefers Harris to Trump, beginning with character.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Dean Withers introduces himself as a 19-year-old liberal who does political debate for a living, then states his first claim to a room of 20 Trump supporters: Donald Trump is a racist. The format puts him one against many, with participants rotating in to challenge him, and the conversation opens instead with an attack on Kamala Harris's character involving Willie Brown.

• The first challenger, whose family immigrated legally from Cuba and Mexico, says he has never seen a Trump statement that is racist and that accusations exist without facts behind them. Dean responds with the 1970s civil litigation brought by the DOJ and the state of New York, describing paired testers where white applicants were offered rental applications and Black applicants were denied.

• A second participant shifts the argument to Trump's record in office, citing opportunity zones, HBCU funding, and the First Step Act. Dean counters with the funding comparison and notes the First Step Act was proposed to Congress under Obama and shot down, while the supporter argues that signing it is itself proof, since any president can send a bill back to Congress.