It was foreseeable that Donald Trump would make disparaging remarks about Kamala Harris’ identity. Now the time has come – and the presidential candidate reacted coolly and clearly.
In Chicago, the city where the Democrats are soon planning to elect Kamala Harris as their presidential candidate, Republican Donald Trump appeared at the Association of Black Journalists and quickly got on bad terms with not only those present, but also with many Americans, with voters and, above all, with Kamala Harris.
“The same old show: division and disrespect”
“We all remember those four years. Today we got a little refresher,” the Democrat told students in Houston, Texas, commenting on Trump’s outburst: “The same old show: divisiveness and disrespect. Let me say one thing: The American people deserve better. The people deserve someone at the top who tells the truth. Someone who doesn’t react to facts with anger and hatred.”
Harris also spoke at the Sigma Gamma Rho women’s fraternity in front of a predominantly black audience, and the approval was correspondingly great when the White House candidate struck a unifying tone: “We deserve leadership that understands that our differences do not divide us, but are the source of our strength.”
“Harris wants to be known as black”
At the usual routine meeting with the press, the former US President personally attacked Kamala Harris and made fun of her origins: “She was always of Indian descent and only advertised her Indian descent,” he said of her. “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.”
The former US president added: “Well, I don’t know: is she Indian or is she black?” He respects both, but Harris herself apparently does not, given her “about-face”. “I think someone should look into that.”
Harris father from Jamaica, mother from India
Harris is the first woman, the first black woman and the first Asian American to be sworn in as US Vice President. She was born in Oakland, California. Her father immigrated to the US from Jamaica to study economics. Her mother – a cancer researcher and civil rights activist – came from India.
Her campaign responded to Trump’s statements before her appearance with a post on X, formerly Twitter. The hostility he showed on stage was “the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, during his time in office and during his campaign for president.” Chaos and division would characterize Trump’s entire election campaign.
Donald Trump already lied about Barack Obama
The White House also reacted with outrage. Spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre called the comments “insulting” and “repulsive.” Jean-Pierre – herself the second black woman to hold the White House spokesperson’s post – said: “No one has the right to tell someone who they are, how they identify.”
Trump had already given space to racist conspiracy theories about the Democrat in 2020, before Harris took office. They questioned whether she should even be allowed to become vice president because her parents were not yet US citizens when she was born. Years earlier, Trump had participated in conspiracy theories that had questioned former President Barack Obama’s birthplace and thus his qualifications for the highest office in the state. At the time, Trump was one of the most prominent proponents of the theory that Obama was born in Kenya. Obama, the first black president of the United States, was born in the US state of Hawaii.
“Done more for blacks than Lincoln”
In May, Trump, a native of New York, surprised everyone with a performance in the South Bronx. The almost exclusively black and Latino population almost never votes Republican. In Crotona Park, he then said confidently about his presidency: “We have done more for the black population than any other president since Abraham Lincoln.” Lincoln had waged a bloody war against the rebellious southern states because of slavery and abolished it in 1865.
Black voters traditionally vote predominantly for the Democrats, but in recent years they have also become interesting for the Republicans. According to the latest polls, Trump can count on at least 20 percent of the black vote. However, the figures date back to the time before Joe Biden withdrew as presidential candidate. Half of African Americans rejected him, and the same number rejected Donald Trump.
Donald Trump receives support from his running mate JD Vance: When asked about Trump’s comments, he said the reactions to them were “hysterical”. And continued: “I think he highlighted the fundamental chameleon-like nature of Kamala Harris. She has turned around on every issue. She’s a fraud. She’s a liar.”
Sources: DPA, The Hill, Washington Post, CNN, Reuters
