Yea.... That doesn't sound good...

At event for Black journalists, Donald Trump says Kamala Harris isn't Black

His appearance in front of the National Association of Black Journalists began acrimoniously

By Alec Regimbal

Former President Donald Trump used an appearance in front of Black journalists on Wednesday to make racist remarks about Vice President Kamala Harris, claiming he didn’t know she was Black until she decided to “turn Black.”

“I’ve known her a long time indirectly; not directly, very much. And she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” he said during an interview with reporters at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in Chicago. “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.”

Harris, who served as San Francisco’s district attorney, the attorney general of California and in the Senate before entering national politics, is of Black and Indian descent. She is the first woman of color to be elected vice president, and will likely become the first woman of color to win the Democratic nomination for president at the party’s convention in August.

Trump’s remarks came in response to a question about whether he agrees with conservative lawmakers and pundits who have called Harris a "DEI hire." The term DEI stands for “diversity, equity and inclusion,” and the phrase “DEI hire” has been used in bigoted attacks against people with the claim that they received employment solely because of their race, gender or another characteristic, and not because of their experience or skills.

Trump’s remarks were met with indignation from the three panelists: Rachel Scott from ABC News; Harris Faulkner from Fox News; and Kadia Goba from Semafor, the discussion’s moderator. Scott pressed back the hardest, saying Harris “has always identified as Black” and went to a “historically Black college,” a reference to Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Throughout Trump’s approximately 30-minute appearance — truncated by a long delay that he continually blamed on issues with the venue’s audio equipment — he clashed with Scott the most. The acrimoniousness between the two began early, when Scott pressed him about some of the racist attacks he’s made against former President Barack Obama, as well as Black members of Congress, Black district attorneys and Black journalists.

“Why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?” Scott asked him.

“Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” Trump responded. “... You don’t even say, ‘Hello, how are you?’ Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network. A terrible network. And I think it’s disgraceful.”

Trump’s surprise appearance at the event, announced Monday, was met with outrage from Black journalists. In response to the announcement on X, many questioned why the National Association of Black Journalists would choose to platform Trump, and Karen Attiah — a columnist with the Washington Post — said that she was stepping down as the convention’s co-chair following the announcement.

Trump continued attacking Harris — who became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president after President Joe Biden terminated his reelection bid earlier this month — throughout the event. In response to a question about taking a cognitive test, he said he’d take one with Harris, but quickly pivoted to her record on taking the California bar exam.

“She failed her law exam. She didn’t pass her law exam so maybe she wouldn’t pass the cognitive test,” he said. “I’m just giving you the facts. She didn’t pass her bar exam. And she didn’t think she would pass it, and she didn’t think she’d ever pass it. And I don’t know what happened, maybe she passed it.”

Harris did fail the bar exam on her first try after graduating from UC Hastings College of the Law (now known as UC Law San Francisco) in 1989. She passed it on her second attempt and was admitted to the California bar in 1990. According to a Los Angeles Times article published in 1990, close to 60% of the 6,997 people who took the California bar exam that year passed it.

Trump also said he has been the best president for Black Americans since Abraham Lincoln, and criticized Harris’ time as vice president in sweeping terms.

“She’s been a horrible vice president,” he said. “She’s considered the worst vice president in the history of our country.”