Donald Trump Attacks VP Kamala Harris' Race

During his appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists’ (NABJ) annual convention in Chicago on July 31, Donald Trump criticized Vice President Kamala Harris’ multicultural background. The 78-year-old Republican, who was convicted on 34 counts of falsification of business records in June, falsely suggested that the 59-year-old Democrat had misrepresented her racial identity.

“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,” Trump told ABC News anchor and Wednesday’s moderator, Rachel Scott, during an interview at the NABJ annual convention. “So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”

It’s widely known that Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was from India and worked as a breast cancer researcher. Her father, Donald Harris, hailing from Jamaica, was an economics teacher. Harris made history in 2020 when she became the first Black and South Asian vice president to enter the White House. How did Trump miss that?

Sadly, the absurdity didn’t stop there. Trump claimed that Harris identified as Indian throughout her political career but all of a sudden “made a turn” when she decided to run for president. 

“I think somebody should look into that, too,” he told Scott.

Adding to the bizarre interview, when Scott asked the former president whether he believed Harris was hired for diversity and inclusion reasons, Trump replied that he wasn’t entirely sure but acknowledged she “could be.”

This isn’t the first time that the former reality TV star has questioned the ethnicity of a well-known Black political figure. 

The outspoken Republican gained prominence in Republican circles by advancing the unfounded “birther” conspiracy, which claimed that President Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, was not born in the United States. Born in Hawaii to an American mother and a Kenyan father, Obama addressed inquiries about his background by releasing his verified short-form birth certificate in 2008 and then his verified long-form birth certificate in 2011.

Harris’ campaign reacts to Trump’s interview.

After watching Trump’s cringeworthy NABJ interview, Michael Tyler, Harris’ campaign communications director, told the Associated Press, “the hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power.”

He added, “Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency — while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in. Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also reacted to the interview, telling a reporter Wednesday, “What he just said, what you just read out to me, is repulsive. It’s insulting. No one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify…only she can speak to her experience.”

Watch Trump’s full NABJ interview below. Thoughts?

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