VANITYFAIR
Donald Trump appeared onstage over an hour late Wednesday for his controversial interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago, citing technical difficulties. But the former president had no problem steering the conversation—led by ABC News senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, and Semafor political reporter Kadia Goba—off the rails as soon as it began.
Trump called Scott’s opening question “disgraceful,” after she asked why Black voters should trust him given his association with white supremacists as well as his racially charged broadsides against Black politicians and journalists. “I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” he responded with disdain. “I love the Black population in this country.”
“I have been the best president for Black Americans since Abraham Lincoln,” Trump added.
It was hardly the first time Trump has claimed that his presidential record is somehow tantamount to Black emancipation. Indeed, Trump spent much of the Q&A simply riffing off the same tired old material about political persecution, immigrants, and inflation. There was, however, one moment in which the former president stooped to a new low: Trump falsely questioned the racial makeup of Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee who was not in attendance due to a busy campaign schedule. “She was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said of the vice president, who has never concealed her multiracial 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.”
“So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” he went on. “She was Indian all the way, and all of a sudden, she made a turn and she became a Black person.”
The former president, who left roughly 40 minutes into the event that was billed for an hour, did not redeem himself at any other point in the interview. And one might even say he did just the opposite by:
> Claiming that “millions and millions of people that happen to be taking Black jobs.” When pressed to define “Black jobs,” Trump responded with “any job,” provoking jeers from the crowd.
> When asked about the police shooting of 36-year-old Sonya Massey, appearing entirely unfamiliar with the case. “It didn’t look good to me,” he said. “It didn’t look good to me,”
> Refusing to explain how the “federal immunity” he has vowed to give police officers would actually be applied in the event of those who have committed clear wrongdoings.
> Repeating his promise to pardon January 6 rioters.
> Arguing, with no evidence to speak of, that pro-choice advocates want to legalize abortion post-birth.
> Just about admitting that J.D. Vance was a bad choice for running mate by claiming that voters only care about presidential candidates.
> Trying and failing to spin Vance’s verbal bile about how the country is run by “childless cat ladies.”
> Claiming he doesn’t know what “DEI” means in reference to his allies calling Harris a “DEI candidate.” When Scott graciously defined the acronym, Trump continued to play dumb.
The post All of the Crazy Things Donald Trump Said to a Roomful of Black Journalists appeared first on Vanity Fair.
