One of the two major party presidential candidates sat for an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago on Wednesday.
It was not Kamala Harris.
Fox New's Harris Faulkner, a panelist on stage with ABC's Rachel Scott, and Semafor's Kadia Goba, asked Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump: "We really got to see that we were divided along the lines of race, along the lines of gender. And there is this question of: in this moment where we are, why come here, what is your message today?"
Trump responded: "My message is to stop people from invading our country, that are taking, frankly, a lot of problems with it, but one of the big problems and a lot of the journalists in this room, I know and I have great respect for, a lot of the journalists in this room are black," the crowd laughed. "I will tell you that coming, coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking black jobs. You had the best—"
One of the black journalists at the black journalists conference then asked: "What exactly is a black job, sir?"
Trump replied: "A black job is anybody that has a job. That's what it is. Anybody that has a job and they're taking the employment away from black people. They're coming in and they're coming in, they're invading, it's an invasion of millions of people, probably 15, 16, 17 million people. I have a feeling it's much more than that. And everybody has been seeing what's happened. The first group of people, the black population is affected most by that and Kamala is allowing it to happen. She's the border czar, she's the worst border czar in the history of the world. There's never been a border czar like this. She's never even essentially been - She said she was there once but not the right part of the border. So she was a border czar, she's done a horrible job. These people are coming into our country and they're taking black jobs and Hispanic jobs and frankly, they're taking union jobs. Unions have been very badly affected by all of the millions of people that are pouring into our country."
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Trump was asked outright if he feels that "Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she is a black woman?" The reporter asked Trump if he thought Harris was a "DEI hire." Trump pointed out that he "didn't know she was black" until a few years ago when she began identifying that way as opposed to Indian, which was how she first identified in her political career. It was pointed out that she went to a "historically black college."
"I respect either one, but she obviously doesn't. Because she was Indian all the way. And then all of a sudden she made a turn and she became a black person and I think somebody should look into that, too," Trump said.
On abortion and the recent controversy surrounding running mate JD Vance's comments on family, Trump said that Democrats are "radical on abortion" and that he'd reduced the radical position among the Republicans. "They're voting," he said of laws across the country where states are deciding how to proceed with abortion, and said the right thing to do is for the people to decide.
On Vance, Trump said, "My interpretation is he's strongly family-oriented but that doesn't mean if you don't have a family there's something wrong with that." He spoke candidly and openly with the reporters about his views, his respect for Vance, and where the two men may disagree.
A black journalist attacked Trump for saying “black jobs” at a “black journalists” conference.
You can’t make it up. — Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) July 31, 2024
I have decided to step down as co- chair from this year’s #NABJ24 convention in Chicago.
To the journalists interviewing Trump, I wish them the best of luck. For everyone else, I’m looking forward to meeting and reconnecting with all of you in the Windy City. #nabj — Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) July 30, 2024
