Donald Trump accepted an invitation to speak at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Convention and Career Fair. He also agreed to an hour-long interview with three Black journalists: Rachel Scott of ABC News, Kadia Goba of Semafor, and Harris Faulkner of Fox News. I don’t know what Trump imagined would happen. He should have level set when the audience cheered that PolitiFact would fact-check the interview live.
The first question from the Moderator, Rachel Scott, set the tone. After she gave a relatively warm introduction, indicated she was happy to see him, and thanked him, she started the session.
“I want to start by addressing the elephant in the room, sir," said Scott. "A lot of people did not think it was appropriate for you to be here today. 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 where they came from. You have used words like animal and rabid to describe Black District Attorneys."
Her laundry list of i from Trump was long. She addressed him attacking Black journalists and his sit-down with a white supremacist at his Mar-a-Lago resort. After a thorough set up she asked the former president why does he think Black voters should trust him after using such divisive language.
Trump went right in on attacking the journalist.
“First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner. First question. You don’t even say hello. How are you? Are you with ABC? I think they’re a fake news network—a terrible network. And, I think it’s disgraceful that, I came here, in good spirit. I love the Black population of this country. I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country. Including employment, including Opportunity Zones with Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, which is one of the greatest programs ever for Black workers and Black entrepreneurs. I’ve done so much, and I say this: Historically, Black Colleges and Universities were out of money, they were stone-cold broke, and I saved them, and I gave them long-term financing, and nobody else was doing it. I think it’s a very rude introduction. I don’t know exactly why you would do something like that.”
The former president spent a few more minutes complaining about the question without answering any part of it. He whined about the late start and blamed the equipment until ending his first rant with the following statement: “I have been the best President for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln.”
Speaking over the audience who were openly mocking Trump about the Lincoln comparison, Trump was asked if he agreed with some of his surrogates that Kamala Harris was a DEI candidate, only there because she was a Black woman. Trump demanded a definition of DEI and got the root words, diversity, equity, and inclusion, which he didn’t find acceptable. Trump falsely said that Kamala Harris had only promoted herself as being of Indian heritage, only recently claiming to be Black. This is despite Kamala attending the HBCU Howard University and pledging a Black sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. The audience roared at the suggestion Harris wasn’t Black.
“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage," said Trump. "I didn’t know she was Black, until a couple years ago when she happened to turn… Black.”
Trump directed the next question to a friendly face, Harris Faulkner, who asked what his reason was for being at the NABJ Convention. Trump's answer turned to the border and the number of immigrants—“these people”—who were coming and taking “Black jobs.” Faulkner tried to save him by asking a long question describing how the money crisis affected Black families, and eventually asked his plan to address it. Trump rambled on about inflation using a definition no economist could go with.
The rest of the interview could be accurately described as the journalists asking questions and Trump rambling on with unrelated and incoherent answers.
In a nutshell, Trump came to meet with the representatives of the Black press corp and was dismissive and insulting, just as he usually is with Black America. He was whiny and rude. The Trump team pulled him out of an hour-long interview after 35 minutes, most likely because things weren’t going well. I encourage everyone to listen to the entire interview. The Politico fact checker probably never thought he’d be checking to see if Kamala Harris was Black.
Many NABJ members objected to Trump’s presence, although the NABJ has a history of inviting presidential candidates and presidents from both sides of the aisle. There was a dispute within the NABJ, and one of the convention co-chairs resigned in protest.
“While my decision was influenced by a variety of factors, I was not involved or consulted with in any way with the decision to platform Trump in such a format,” said Karen Attiah
I believe it was the right move to invite Trump, allowing questions to be asked that wouldn’t be in another environment and letting Black Americans judge for themselves. Trump was allowed a platform, but he absolutely made the worst of it. Kind of like his first term as President.
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