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Trump claims he is ‘least racist person in the world’ and people point out all the times he was

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Chip Somodevilla/Getty

Donald Trump has claimed that he is the “least racist person in the world”, despite comments he has made in the past about politicians of colour, Mexicans and the failed “Muslim ban” – points that people are vigorously making online.

The president spoke at an event marking the 400th anniversary of the first legislative assembly in Virginia and faced criticism from Democrats for racist attacks, including tweets aimed at four politicians of colour in the House of Representatives colloquially known as “the squad”.

In the controversial tweets he told Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib to “go back” to where they came from.

Trump has also lashed out at civil rights leader and congressman Elijah Cummings over the state of his district, which includes the city of Baltimore. The US president said that Cummings’ Baltimore district – which is predominantly black – is “rat infested”.

Senior black Democrats boycotted Trump’s Virginia stay over “racist, xenophobic rhetoric”.

Washington Post White House correspondent Jim Acosta said Trump’s denial of racism is “false”.

Democrat congresswoman Maxine Waters said "Trump is a racist".

Mayor Peter Buttigieg condemned Republicans in Congress for "supporting naked racism in the White House".

Democrat leader hopeful Beto O'Rourke has called Trump the "most openly racist president we've had in modern history".

Trump has a history of racist statements, according to the country's guidelines.

Donald Trump’s tweets attacking four Democratic congresswomen of colour is a textbook example of discriminatory harassment, according to US government guidelines.

While the president and his supporters have insisted he was not being racist, guidelines written by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) say otherwise.

In a section called “Harassment Based on National Origin”, the EEOC write:

Examples of potentially unlawful conduct include insults, taunting, or ethnic epithets, such as making fun of a person's foreign accent or comments like, ‘Go back to where you came from.’

And a documented history of statements from before and during his presidency that have been called racist.

He suggested Obama wasn’t born in the US.

In 2015 he launched a campaign calling Mexican immigrants “rapists” who are “bringing crime” and “bringing drugs” to the US.

As a presidential candidate in the same year, he called for a ban on Muslims coming into the US from Muslim-majority countries.

He argued in 2016 that judge Gonzalo Curiel — who was overseeing the Trump University lawsuit — should recuse himself from the case because of his Mexican heritage and membership in a Latino lawyers association.

He once allegedly referred to Haiti and African countries during a 2018 bipartisan meeting about immigration: “Why are we having all these people from sh*thole countries come here?”

He denied this happened, though senators present in the meeting insist it did.

George Takei called Trump a "racist, ignorant, dangerous president".

And many others had similar views.

Others insist Trump is not racist.

People pointed out that simply calling Trump out isn't enough.

And author Laurie said white people need to do more.

Trump travelled to Jamestown, Virginia, where he delivered a speech to mark the First Representative Legislative Assembly that took place in 1619. That legislative body was the first assembly by English settlers in the new world.

During his speech, Trump condemned the “horrors of slavery.”

We remember every sacred soul who suffered the horrors of slavery, and the anguish of bondage.

He also honoured African-American contributions to US history and quoted the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

A Quinnipiac poll said 51 per cent of Americans believe the US president is racist.

The poll showed a divide along party lines, which found 86 per cent of Democrats said they believe he is racist compared to just 8 per cent of Republicans.

According to the same poll, 80 per cent of African-Americans think Donald Trump is racist, compared to 46 per cent of White Americans and 55 per cent of Latin Americans.

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