As the polls tighten with Donald Trump pulling even or ahead of Hillary Clinton, the left is getting frantic.  Mrs. Clinton is reaching into the Democrat playbook, pulling out their go-to and typically successful Hail Mary fourth down play: the race card.  And not just a single card.  She is throwing the entire deck at Trump.

Her speech last Thursday was an appeal to disaffected Republicans to abandon Trump and join the Clinton train.  The GOP establishment, from National Review and The Weekly Standard to Fox News and the rest of the inside-the-Beltway elites, have long ago ditched Trump, Pollyannaishly waiting for their unicorn candidate to magically appear.  Mrs. Clinton trotted out the usual canards – "dog-whistle", "hate speech", "far-right fringe" – with the only new bogeyman being the new "alt-right" movement. 

Beyond the rhetoric, let's see who the real racist candidate is.  Sorry, MSNBC – it is not Donald Trump, but rather your anointed candidate.

Hillary Clinton accuses Trump of "pushing discredited conspiracy theories with racist undertones." I  presume she is referring to the many still unanswered questions about Barack Obama's childhood and life story.  Who was the original birther?  Not Donald Trump.  Not John McCain, who bristled if any of his supporters even mentioned Obama's middle name.  The original birther was the 2007 Hillary Clinton campaign.  Her chief strategist, Mark Penn, wrote a memo: "I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values."  Penn proposed targeting Obama's "lack of American roots."  Sounds like birtherism to me.  And from the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Trump is the racist?

Hillary Clinton, on 60 Minutes in 2008, was asked by Steve Kroft if she believed that Obama is a Muslim.  She answered, "Of course not" but ended her denials with the caveat: "as far as I know."  A non-denial denial.  A dog whistle to the birthers saying that even though she can't prove it, the allegation may still be true.

Trump is the racist?

Around that same time, Bill Clinton was trying to secure an endorsement for his wife's campaign from Ted Kennedy.  Bill remarked about Obama, "A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee."  When Kennedy endorsed Obama, Bill then said, "The only reason you are endorsing him is because he's black.  Let's just be clear."

Trump is the racist?

Mrs. Clinton is not bigoted not just against blacks, but against Jews as well.  A Clinton biographer reported that when Bill Clinton unexpectedly lost his Arkansas congressional election in 1974, Hillary shrieked, as she is well known to do, at his campaign manager, "You f------ Jew b------."

Trump is the bigot?

Listening to Mrs. Clinton, one would think the KKK is all in for The Donald.  Not so fast.  KKK Grand Dragon Will Quigg is on the "I'm With Her" bandwagon.  "We want Hillary Clinton to win," he told reporters.  The Clinton campaign has also received more than $20,000 in donations from KKK members.

Trump is the racist?

Speaking of the KKK, a now deceased U.S. senator, Robert Byrd, was a prominent member of the KKK.  Of importance, Senator Byrd was a Democrat, not a Republican.  He rose within the KKK to the lofty position of "Exalted Cyclops."  His Senate accomplishments included joining other Democrat senators in a filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which eventually passed due to overwhelming Republican, not Democrat, support.  Upon Senator Byrd's passing, Mrs. Clinton eulogized him, saying, "Today our country has lost a true American original, my friend and mentor Robert Byrd."  Interesting that a KKK bigwig is Mrs. Clinton's "friend and mentor."

Trump is the racist?

Aside from attempting to block the Civil Rights Act, the Democrats have a rich racist history, conveniently overlooked by the media and the Democrats themselves.  The KKK originated with the Democrats.  Founded in 1866, it was "a vehicle for white southern resistance to the Republican Party's Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for blacks."  Not a Republican creation; instead, "the organization saw its primary goal – the reestablishment of white supremacy – fulfilled through Democratic victories in state legislatures across the South in the 1870s."  Ignored by Mrs. Clinton and her media fanboys who continue trying to tie the KKK to the GOP.

Republicans are the racists?

Don't forget Bull Connor, another favorite of the Democrat race-baiters.  MSNBC Clinton campaign staffer Chris Matthews called Rick Perry "Bull Connor with a smile."  Unfortunately for those entrusted with accurately reporting the news, Bull Connor was a Democrat, as was his ideological cousin, George Wallace.  If you need a reminder, Bull Connor was a white supremacist who ordered the police to use fire hoses and police dogs against civil rights protesters.  George Wallace, four-term Democrat governor of Alabama, also supported white supremacy and segregation.

Republicans are the racists?

Beyond individuals, look at Democrat policies and racism.  Barack Obama owns this economy, for better or for worse.  Blacks are far worse off economically under Democrat policies – and when it comes to abortion, a Democrat core belief.  Blacks constitute 13 percent of the female population but account for 36 percent of abortions in the U.S.  One could reasonably call this genocide, aided and abetted by Democrats, not Republicans.

Republicans are the racists?

Donald Trump is right in calling Hillary Clinton "a bigot who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings worthy of a better future."  Her words, her associations, and the actions of the political party she represents all confirm the inconvenient truth that she is the racist.  Trump continued, "She's going to do nothing for African-Americans.  She's going to do nothing for the Hispanics. She's only going to take care of herself, her husband, her consultants, her donors."

Isn't it interesting that Donald Trump has been on the national stage for decades, frequently interviewed, host of a popular television reality show, and has never been called a racist or bigot until he decided to run for president as a Republican?  Now that the presidential race is a dead heat, Hillary Clinton is running scared, dragging out the hackneyed race card against Trump.

This time, however, the Republic candidate is fighting back, correctly calling out Mrs. Clinton as the real racist.  What a refreshing change from past campaigns where Republicans shrink like wilted daisies in the face of being called names such as racist, bigot, sexist, homophobe, and so on.  Trump, however, is the only Republican who has a spine.  Where are the other leading Republicans defending Trump on race?  Silent, as the Washington Post points out.

Hence Trump's popularity among "we the people," tired of bowing to political correctness and the narrative of the elites, punching back against hypocritical Democrat accusations of racism.  And pointing out that Hillary Clinton is the real racist.

Brian C Joondeph, M.D., MPS is a Denver-based retina surgeon, radio personality, and writer.  Follow him on Facebook  and Twitter.