- Trump was asked about his comment that Harris “happened to be black”
- He called her “disrespectful to both groups”
Former President Donald Trump has hit back at his attacks on Kamala Harris’ racial identity. During a press conference on Thursday, he said it was up to her to explain herself, claiming she was “disrespectful” to black people and people of Indian descent.
Trump was asked during his hour-long press conference on Thursday how he could say the Democratic presidential nominee “just happened to turn black” — a comment he made during a controversial interview at an event for the Association of Black Journalists.
A reporter noted that Harris’ father is Jamaican-American and that she attended a historically black college — Howard University — and wondered why it made sense that she recently decided to become black. (Her mother is an immigrant to the U.S. from India.)
“Well, well, you’re going to have to ask her that question, because she’s the one who said it. I didn’t say it,” Trump began. “So you’re going to have to ask her. And I appreciate the question very much. But you’re going to have to ask her.”
He then continued to press the issue, recounting the $6,000 he had personally donated to her when she was California’s attorney general.
“But I’ve known her for a long time. I contributed to her campaign a long time ago, because I was a developer. I’ve contributed to a lot of Democratic and Republican campaigns, some of them liberal and some of them conservative,” Trump said, before doubling down on his criticism of his opponent.
Former President Donald Trump last month repeated his claim that Kamala Harris “accidentally turned black”
“But you’ll have to ask her. But to me it doesn’t matter. But to her, from her point of view, I think it’s very disrespectful to both, whether it’s Indian or black. I think it’s very disrespectful to both. To me it doesn’t matter,” he said.
Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance called Harris a “chameleon” and defended Trump’s earlier comments. “I think he was observing the fundamental reality that Kamala Harris presents herself differently depending on the audience she’s speaking to,” Vance said after Trump’s explosive remarks.
VP Kamala Harris called the ‘perversion’ of ‘belittling people’
Trump first made the attack in an interview at a black journalists’ association. “She was always of Indian descent, and she was just promoting her Indian descent. I didn’t know she was black until a couple of years ago, when she happened to become 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 criticized “perversion” during a meeting with UAW leaders and members in Detroit.
“You know, there’s been a kind of perversion in our country over the last few years where there’s been a suggestion that strength is somehow about making people feel small, making them feel alone,” she said.
She made the comment after pointing out similarities between her upbringing in Oakland, California and her running mate Tim Walz, who is from Nebraska.
“We will not be seduced by these people who are trying to divide us,” she said.
Trump’s attacks come as polls show Harris gaining popularity among black and younger voters after replacing President Joe Biden in the race for the White House.