Trump called Scott’s opening question “disgraceful,” after she asked why Black voters should trust him given his association with white supremacists as well as his racially charged broadsides against Black politicians and journalists. “I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” he responded with disdain. “I love the Black population in this country.”
“I have been the best president for Black Americans since Abraham Lincoln,” Trump added.
It was hardly the first time Trump has claimed that his presidential record is somehow tantamount to Black emancipation. Indeed, Trump spent much of the Q&A simply riffing off the same tired old material about political persecution, immigrants, and inflation. There was, however, one moment in which the former president stooped to a new low: Trump falsely questioned the racial identity of Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee who was not in attendance due to a busy campaign schedule. “She was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said of the vice president, who has never concealed her multiracial identity. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black.”
“So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” he went on. “She was Indian all the way, and all of a sudden, she made a turn and she became a Black person.”
The former president, who left roughly 35 minutes into the event, which was billed for an hour, did not redeem himself at any other point in the interview. And one might even say he did just the opposite by:
- Claiming that “millions and millions of people…happen to be taking Black jobs.” When pressed to define “Black jobs,” Trump responded with “anybody that has a job,” provoking jeers from the crowd.
- When asked about the police shooting of 36-year-old Sonya Massey, appearing entirely unfamiliar with the case. “It didn’t look good to me,” he said. “It didn’t look good to me.”
- Refusing to explain how the “federal immunity” he has vowed to give police officers would actually be applied in the event of those who have committed clear wrongdoing.
- Repeating his promise to pardon January 6 rioters.
- Arguing, with no evidence to speak of, that abortion-rights advocates want to legalize abortion post-birth.
- Just about admitting that JD Vance was a bad choice for running mate by claiming that voters only care about presidential candidates.
- Trying and failing to spin Vance’s verbal bile about how the country is run by “childless cat ladies.”
- Claiming he doesn’t know what DEI means in reference to his allies calling Harris a “DEI hire.” When Scott graciously defined the acronym, Trump continued to play dumb.
