Trump’s Attacks on Harris’ Black Identity Are Birtherism
The media played right into the former president’s hands in its coverage of his racist comments at a convention of Black journalists.
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Photographer: Montinique Monroe/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump seemed to have one goal when he sat down for an interview with a group of Black journalists: inject the fringe and kooky takes on Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity into the mainstream. By that measure, Trump’s appearance, which wasn’t so much an interview but a filibuster of nonsense, was a success. The former president’s path back to the White House relies on unpaid media attention and stunts. And the media — and the National Association of Black Journalists specifically — were so thirsty that they helpfully obliged him.
Here’s what Trump said: “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?”