In Chicago, a press association has invited the former US president. Donald Trump is meeting black US journalists here – that does not bode well for harmony.
The round table discussion at the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago’s Hilton Hotel was certainly never intended to be a harmonious round of cuddles, but if Trump had hoped to win the hearts of some African Americans here, he has miserably wasted his time.
The reception was not exactly warm, to his credit. But one would have expected a little more sovereignty from a former President of the USA. But Donald Trump is Donald Trump.
“First of all,” began Donald Trump, “I have never been questioned in such a horrible manner. Not even a ‘Hello, how are you?'” he complained to murmuring laughter from the audience. Words like “fake news,” “disgrace,” “hostile entry” followed. This set the tone for the next 30 minutes.
Donald Trump laments absent Kamala Harris
After less than four minutes on stage with the three moderators, the Republican campaigning complained about the delayed start of the event and the absence of his opponent. “It was agreed that Joe Biden should also be here. Or Kamala Harris. I came here under false pretenses,” said Donald Trump, before making a direct statement that he was the “best president for black people since Abraham Lincoln.”
His statement is not new, but that does not make it any less adventurous. Lincoln had waged a bloody war against the rebellious southern states over slavery and abolished it in 1865. The 16th president died in an assassination attempt and is considered one of the most respected heads of state in the USA. The comparison with him is at least daring, and the audience reacted with corresponding disbelief.
Is she Indian “or” is she black?
But that’s not all. Trump, who often makes questionable theories and statements about his origins and skin color, then talks himself into trouble.
When asked whether Kamala Harris, US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee-elect, is in office only because of her Jamaican-Indian parents, he replies: “She has always been of Indian descent and has only advertised her Indian descent. I didn’t know she was black until she suddenly became black a few years ago. And now she wants to be known as black. So, I don’t know: is she Indian or is she black? I think someone should look into that.”
Statements about ethnic origin are already a highly sensitive topic in the USA. It only gets worse when someone questions the roots of another or, as in this case, a white man wants to explain to a non-white woman what her identity is. The storm of indignation quickly began. The White House reacted with outrage, and candidate Harris herself spoke in front of a black audience in Houston, Texas, about the “same old show: divisiveness and disrespect”.
What exactly are “black jobs”?
On stage in Chicago, Trump used every opportunity to recite his campaign themes, including “illegal immigration.” In his usual disdainful tone, he said, “they (the immigrants) are lining up at our border in their millions to take black jobs.” When asked what exactly “black jobs” are, he awkwardly replied, “Anyone who has a job.” But it was obvious to everyone in the room what “black jobs” actually meant: menial and unskilled labor, work for the low-skilled, often done by immigrants. Or in the world of right-wing populists like Trump: by African-Americans.
In the 35 minutes, the former US president rattles off his usual and long-refuted lies and exaggerations:
- For example, his classics about the migrant “invasion”: “Probably 15, 16, 17 million people. I even think there are more.” (Experts estimate the number to be a maximum of ten million, ed.)
- “At this moment, illegal immigrants are coming to our country, many of them are prisoners or have been in psychiatric hospitals, and they are coming to vote for them.” (Neither are many convicted or mentally ill people migrating to the USA, nor will they vote for the Democrats, as Trump suggests (ed.)
- “Inflation is the worst in 100 years. The fact checkers will probably say only 58 years, whatever.” (Comparable inflation rates of ten percent were still seen in the early 1980s, d.Red.)
- “We have more liquid gold, gas and oil under our feet than any other country. More than Saudi Arabia, more than Russia.” (The USA ranks ninth in global oil reserves, behind Saudi Arabia and Russia, and fourth in gas reserves, ed.)
No more voting in four years? Trump provokes with statement on US elections
Meandering, half-baked and discriminatory campaign phrases are one thing. When it came to specifics, Donald Trump often remained strangely vague. Even on his favorite topics like law and order. For example, Trump is calling for immunity for police officers on duty. When asked whether he would also pardon the officer who recently shot an unarmed woman in her home in Chicago, he said: “I don’t know the case. Maybe not. I mean, it depends, it depends on what happens. We need people to protect us.”
“Sir, have you no sense of shame?”
The former president, on the other hand, is much more aggressive in defending his supporters who stormed the US Capitol, the seat of parliament, on January 6, 2021. Five people died. When asked whether he would pardon them if re-elected to the White House, he said: “If you are innocent, I would pardon you.” He even compared the rioters to the demonstrators in Minneapolis, where people protested after the death of George Floyd – a black man who was shot by a police officer.
After this comparison, one listener at the Chicago Hilton lost his temper: “Sir, sir, have you no sense of shame?”
Sources: Fox, Politifact, Axios
