Shortly after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his pick for Democratic nominee, Republican leadership in Congress quickly put out some guidance to lawmakers about how to message around Harris, the first Black, Asian American, woman vice president.
Perhaps aware of conference members’ worst impulses when presented with the platform to go after a woman of color presidential nominee, Republican leadership hurried to urge lawmakers to avoid commenting on Harris’ race when criticizing her. But the guidance was also an effort to course correct — some members of Congress had begun referring to Harris as a “DEI hire” almost immediately after Biden tapped her as his pick.
“This election will be about policies and not personalities,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters after a closed door meeting with the Republican conference last week, during which Johnson and National Republican Congressional Committee chair Richard Hudson asked their colleagues to stick to attacking Harris over her Biden administration record.
“This is not personal with regard to Kamala Harris,” he added, “and her ethnicity or her gender have nothing to do with this whatsoever.”
Perhaps no one gave Donald Trump the memo.
Trump was in Chicago this afternoon for an event at the National Association of Black Journalists conference, where he sat for a Q&A with ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Semafor’s Kadia Goba and Fox News host Harris Faulkner. The event was disastrous for Trump, who appeared flustered, hostile and angry throughout the interview process, which his campaign, it appears, decided to cut short. Trump not only spewed some of the most racist attacks seen yet on Harris as a biracial woman, he also appeared tone deaf, defensive and downright unhinged right out of the gate, downplaying the significance of Sen. JD Vance’s role as his VP pick and extensively attacking the moderators while attempting, somewhat unsuccessfully, to dodge their questions.
Here are some of the lowlights from Trump’s racist field trip to the NABJ:
‘Who Are You?’
The Q&A session began with Scott asking Trump a direct and eloquent question about why Black voters should trust Trump due to his record of racist remarks and actions. It’s worth reading the question in full:
“You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals, from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama, saying that they were not born in the United States, which is not true. You have told four congressmen, women of color, who were American citizens, to go back to where they came from. You have used words like ‘animal’ and ‘rabbit’ to describe Black district attorneys. You’ve attacked Black journalists, calling them a ‘loser,’ saying the questions that they ask are ‘stupid and racist.’ You’ve had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar-a-Lago resort.
“So, my question, sir, now that you are asking Black supporters to vote for you, why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?”
Trump responded belligerently.
“Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner, a first question. You don’t even say hello. Who are you? Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network. A terrible network,” Trump began.
“I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirit. I love the Black population of this country, I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country,” he said, a line he attempted to push throughout the interview sans evidence.
Trump Questioned Harris’ Black Identity
Arguably the most racist remarks from Trump came in response to another question posed by Scott. She asked Trump if he thinks his supporters and some Republicans on the Hill calling Harris a “DEI hire” is acceptable, and whether he would tell them to stop using that language.
Trump started off with a seeming misdirection, asking Scott to define DEI.
“Diversity, equity and inclusion,” Scott told Trump.
“Give me a definition,” Trump kept repeating, to which Scott responded, “I just defined it, sir. Do you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she is a Black woman?”
“Well I can say maybe it is a little bit different,” Trump said. “She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
“I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t,” Trump added. “Because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden, she made a turn and she went … she became a Black person.”
‘What Exactly Is A Black Job, Sir?’
Trump was later asked by Faulkner what his message was to the audience of Black journalists who were attending the conference.
“My message is to stop people from invading our country that are taking, frankly, a lot of problems with it, but one of the big problems … coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happened to be taking Black jobs.”
“What exactly is a Black job sir?” Scott jumped in to ask.
“A Black job is anybody that has a job,” Trump said. “That’s what it is. Anybody that has a job.”
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