- Trump was asked about his comment that Harris “went black”
- He called her “disrespectful to both groups”
Former President Donald Trump has revisited his attacks on Kamala Harris’ racial identity, saying at a news conference Thursday that the burden of explaining it was on her and claiming she was being “disrespectful” to Black people and people of Indian descent.
At his hour-long news conference Thursday, Trump was asked how he could have said the Democratic presidential nominee “turned black,” a comment he made during a controversial interview at a Black Journalists Association event.
One reporter noted that Harris’s father is Jamaican-American and that she attended a historically black college (Howard University), and questioned why it was correct to say that she had only recently decided to be black (her mother is an immigrant from India who came to the United States).
“Well, well, you’re going to have to ask her that question because she was the one who said it. I didn’t say it,” Trump began. “So you’re going to have to ask her. And I very much appreciate that question. But you’re going to have to ask her.”
He then continued to hammer home the point, mentioning his own $6,000 campaign donations he made to her personally when she was California attorney general.
“But I’ve known her for a long time. In fact, I worked on her campaign a long time ago, because I was a real estate developer. I’ve worked on a lot of campaigns for Democrats, Republicans, some were liberal and some were conservative,” Trump said, before doubling down on his criticism of his opponent.
Former President Donald Trump last month reaffirmed his claim that Kamala Harris “turned black”
“But you have to ask her that. It doesn’t matter to me. But from her point of view, it seems to me a lack of respect towards both, whether Indian or black. I think it is a lack of respect towards both. It doesn’t matter to me,” he said.
Trump’s running mate JD Vance has called Harris a “chameleon” and defended Trump’s past comments. “I think he was looking at the fundamental reality that Kamala Harris is meant to be something different depending on the audience she’s addressing,” Vance said after Trump’s explosive comments.
Vice President Kamala Harris denounced the ‘perversion’ of ‘making people feel small’
Trump first launched the attack in an interview at a black journalists’ association. “She was always of Indian descent and she was just promoting Indian descent. I didn’t know she was black until a few years ago when she became black, and now she wants to be known as black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she black?” Trump said.
Minutes after Trump’s lengthy press conference ended, Harris denounced “perversion” at an event with UAW leaders and members in Detroit.
“You know, there’s a certain perversion that’s happened in our country in recent years, where it’s suggested that somehow strength is about making people feel small, making people feel alone,” he said.
He made the comment after pointing out similarities in his upbringing in Oakland, California, with his running mate Tim Walz, who is originally from Nebraska.
“We will not be carried away by these people who are trying to divide us,” he said.
Trump’s attacks come as polls show Harris gaining ground among Black and younger voters after replacing President Joe Biden in the race for the White House.