Former President Donald Trump incorrectly claimed on Wednesday that his 2024 Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, “happened to turn Black” a few years ago, stating that “all of a sudden, she made a turn” in her identity.
At a gathering of Black journalists in Chicago, Trump was asked whether he agreed with Republicans on Capitol Hill who have described Harris as a “DEI hire.” Trump replied by doubting Harris’ heritage.
“She was always of Indian descent, and she was merely promoting Indian culture. I had no idea she was Black until a few years back, when she unexpectedly became Black and now wants to be identified as such. So I don’t know whether she’s Indian or Black.” The previous president stated.
“I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn and went – she became a Black person,” he stated at the National Association of Black Journalists conference. “I think somebody should look into that too.”
Later Wednesday, Harris spoke at a Sigma Gamma Rho sorority event in Houston, calling the former president’s remarks “the same old show, the divisiveness and the disrespect.”
“Let me just say, the American people deserve better,” she told reporters.
Trump’s remarks are reminiscent of his previous assaults on Black political opponents, notably the years he spent spreading the phoney, racist “birther” conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
Harris’ mother is Indian, and her father is Jamaican; they both moved to the United States. Harris was born in Oakland, California, and attended Howard University, a historically Black institution in Washington. She is the first female, Black, and Asian American vice president.
Trump on Wednesday was interviewed by a panel that included ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Semafor’s Kadia Goba and Fox News’ Harris Faulkner.
Scott opened the interview by questioning Trump: “You have made false assertions about several of your challengers, like Nikki Haley and former President Barack Obama, claiming that they were not born in the United States, which is incorrect. You instructed four congresswomen of colour who were American citizens to return to their home countries. You have used words like ‘animal’ and ‘rabid’ to describe Black district attorneys. You have assaulted Black journalists, calling them “losers” and claiming that the questions they ask are “stupid” and “racist.” You have dined with a White nationalist 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?”
A combative Trump responded: “Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question so – in such a horrible manner, first question. You don’t even say, ‘Hello. How are you?’”
He asked Scott if she was with ABC, saying the network was “a fake news network” and “a terrible network.”
“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, including employment, including opportunity zones with Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina,” the former president said. “I’ve done so much, and, you know, I say this: Historically Black colleges and universities were out of money, they were stone cold broke, and I saved them. I gave them long-term financing, and nobody else was doing it.”
“It’s a very rude introduction. I don’t know exactly why you would do something like that,” Trump said.
Scott asked if Trump found it acceptable that some Republicans on Capitol Hill have referred to Harris as a “DEI hire” – using the acronym for diversity, equity and inclusion.
“I really don’t know. Could be. Could be,” he said.
Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, said Wednesday that Trump’s remarks in Chicago reflected “a worse version of an already horrible person.”
“The insults, the B.S. – it’s horrible, it’s terrible, it shows a lack of character – but it’s a distraction,” Emhoff said at a campaign fundraiser in Maine, according to The Washington Post. “It’s about what’s at stake in this election.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a fiery rejoinder to Trump following his remarks at the convention, calling them “repulsive” and “insulting.”
“As a person of color – as a Black woman, who is in this position that is standing before you at this podium, behind this lectern – what he just said, what you just read out to me, is repulsive. It’s insulting, and, you know, no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify,” Jean-Pierre told reporters during a news briefing Wednesday. “That is no one’s right. It is someone’s own decision.”
Harris’ campaign did not specifically respond to Trump’s comment about her racial identity but said the former president “lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency.”
“Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us,” Harris campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said in a statement.
In Chicago on Wednesday, Trump also repeatedly criticized the NABJ for the event’s set-up, which he said made it difficult to hear other panelists and delayed the start of the event. A spokesperson for NABJ told CNN that technology issues had delayed the start of the panel discussion.
Trump in his remarks called himself “the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln,” a comment that drew audible groans from the journalists in attendance. He ignored a follow-up question about whether he was better than Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
“I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln,” he said. “For you to start off a question-and-answer period, especially when you’re 35 minutes late because you couldn’t get your equipment to work, I think it’s a disgrace. I really do, I think it’s a disgrace.”
(CNN)
