Erika D. Smith, Columnist

Yes, Mr. Trump, Kamala Harris Is Black.

The former president told an audience full of journalists that he “loves” African Americans. He then proceeded to insult them.

August 1, 2024 at 9:00 AM UTC

By Erika D. Smith

Erika D. Smith is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She is a former Los Angeles Times columnist and Sacramento Bee editorial board member.

Thanks for nothing.
Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images

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The leadership of the National Association of Black Journalists will be rightly and roundly criticized for a very long time for letting Donald Trump co-opt its annual convention to offend its members and lie to the broader American public watching at home.

Indeed, from the moment the former president stepped on stage in Chicago on Wednesday, he turned what had been billed as a “special conversation” into a spectacle of sexism, racism and hubris, even appointing himself the arbiter of the Blackness of his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.