Is Donald Trump racist?

Donald Trump has been accused of racism. First, it’s because of his focus on the ‘birther’ issue. Critics say no other US president has been accused of not being born in the US. Accusations against Obama, then, must stem from racism.

“The birther thing is entirely racial. They’ve never asked a white Republican or Democratic about their birth certificate,” said liberal political commentator Cenk Uygur.

Then, there is Trump’s questioning of how Obama got into Harvard and Columbia Universities. Trump also said he has friends whose children are highly accomplished but weren’t accepted into these prestigious schools.

The veiled allegation is that the only way Obama was accepted – and Trump’s white friends’ children weren’t – was through affirmative action, said Uygur.

Finally, there is Trump’s comment that Obama should get “off his basketball court” and call OPEC countries to lower oil prices.

“This is so obviously racial code terms. How did that black guy get into a good school? Why doesn’t he get off the basketball court? Is he one of us anyway?” said Uygur on his show The Young Turks.

Others who have called Trump racist include David Letterman, Bob Schieffer, Lawrence O'Donnell, Ed Schultz, Joy Behar, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Not everyone thinks Trump is racist, however.

Trump, in his defense, said he has a great relationship with the blacks.

Talk show host Phil McGraw (aka “Dr. Phil”) said Trump “doesn’t have a racist bone in his body,” but just doesn’t think about how people may spin his comments.

Political commentator Bill O’Reilly said “there's a difference between raising questions about how [Obama] advanced in his academic life and calling him out on his skin color.”

O’Reilly said he’s known Trump for 25 years and that Trump is just plain-spoken.

He also said calling Trump, or anybody, a racist “without proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a vicious, hateful thing to do.”