If you’ve been wondering about the convicted criminal’s mood, now that his campaign to stay out of prison has been trumped by a kickass opponent, you need only watch his Wednesday sitdown with the National Association of Black Journalists. It’s beyond me why anyone in his gang thought it’d be a great idea for him to vent his anger and racism in such a forum, but I’m glad he did it. Just mic up this jackass and let him bray.
And what juicy ammo he gifted for Kamala’s rapid-response team! Granted, the MAGA Kool-Aid imbibers will tell themselves that he aced this latest test (on Truth Social, he says he “crushed it”), but I’ll venture to guess that mainstream Americans who revere pluralism and grasp the concept of biracialism will find his critique of Kamala to be…(what are the mildest words I can muster)…insulting and ignorant:
“I’ve known her a long time, indirectly, not directly very much, and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black. Until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black. Now she wants to be known as Black. I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black? I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t. Because she was Indian all the way and all of a sudden she made a turn and she became a Black person, and I think somebody should look into that.”
Phew! I’m tempted to quote Mose Allison, who famously sings, “Your mind is on vacation/ And you’re mouth is working overtime.” But that’s too gentle. Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist on CNN, said it far better: “He did crap the bed. The only question is whether he’s gonna roll around in it or get up and change the sheets.”
(Let’s fact-check Trump, although it shouldn’t be necessary: Harris didn’t “all of a sudden” make “a turn” and become a Black person. She attended Howard University and joined a Black sorority, like, 40 years ago. Her Jamaican father was of African descent; her Indian mother was of South Asian descent. Why is that so hard to grasp? And one fun fact: Roughly 30 million Americans are biracial.)
But Trump’s on-stage riff was a cinch to decode. He basically said that if you’re not white, you are by definition a shape-shifting grifter who’s not really American. That totally jibed with his general disdain for African-Americans (they like me for my sneakers! they like me for my criminal convictions because they get convicted too!). Which explains why folks in the audience either booed him or laughed at him.
Indeed, Rachel Scott of ABC News nailed him for his racist ‘tude with her very first question: “You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals – from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama – saying that they were not born in the United States, which is not true. You have told four congresswomen of color, who were American citizens, to go back to where they came from. You have used words like ‘animal’ and ‘rabid’ to describe Black district attorneys…You’ve had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar-a-Lago resort. So my question sir, now that you are asking Black supporters to vote for you: Why should Black voters trust you, after you have used language like that?”
Well, he didn’t like that. The questions are a lot tougher in the real world; they’re not simpering softballs served up by lickspittles like Laura Ingraham. So the event was roughly one minute old when Trump basically lost his shit:
“First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner. You don’t even say ‘Hello, how are you.’ Are you with ABC? Because they’re a fake news, terrible network. And I think it’s disgraceful, that I came here in good spirit…I think it’s a very rude introduction, I don’t know exactly why you would do something like that…I think it’s a nasty question and I have answered the question. I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln. That’s my answer-“
Boos, catcalls, and audience fury. Scott followed up, asking the obvious: “Better than President Johnson, who signed the Voting Rights Act?” Either he didn’t hear that or he’s never heard of the Voting Rights Act, because he bulldozed aheadf “- And for you to start off a question…in such a hostile manner, I think it’s a disgrace.”
But he didn’t just advertise his racism. He also highlighted his lawlessness.
Scott: “You call yourself the candidate of law and order. When Time magazine asked if you’d pardon all the rioters, you said yes absolutely, you call them patriots. One hundred and forty police officers were assaulted that day. Their injuries included broken bones, at least one officer lost an eye, one had two cracked ribs, two smashed spinal discs, another had a stroke. Were the people who assaulted those 140 officers, including those I just mentioned, ‘patriots’ who deserve pardons?”
He tried to change the subject – denouncing last week’s pro-Palestinian protesters near the Capitol (“they fought with the police much more openly than what I saw on Jan. 6”); lamenting the 2020 Portland protests – but Scott dragged him back to the Jan. 6 rioters: “Would you pardon those people?”
Trump: “Oh, absolutely I would. If they’re innocent I would pardon them.”
Scott (priceless retort): “They’ve been convicted.”
Which prompted the audience to laugh at Trump again.
Which then prompted Mr. Law and Order to claim that the rioters had suffered too much order: “Well, they were convicted by a very, very tough system.” Too tough, he said, because “nobody died that day.” Which should be news to the families of the people who died that day.
Shortly after that exchange, Trump’s handlers cut off the interview. Even they had seen enough.
Some observers think the Black journalists were wrong to host the guy in the first place. I disagree. As ex-Republican strategist Tim Miller says, “(This) interview is a great example of why the people who demand that we deplatform Trump are wrong. People should see this! A grumpy, cruel, hard-of-hearing, race-baiting asshole having to actually answer for his track record in an environment outside of his comfort zone.”
More please! Every voter he repulses brings us one step closer to a bluer America.
kicker