I honestly have no idea what Donald Trump was trying to accomplish by agreeing to be interviewed by the National Association of Black Journalists here in Chicago yesterday. Consequently, I have no idea whether it was worthwhile or whether he accomplished his objective or not. Here’s how the editors’ of the Wall Street Journal’s read the tealeaves:
Half of politics is showing up, even for a roomful of critics. That’s the best way to think about Donald Trump’s appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago on Wednesday.
In her opening question to Mr. Trump, Rachel Scott from ABC News told Mr. Trump that “a lot of people” didn’t think he should be invited. “You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals . . . saying they were not born in the United States”; told “four Congresswomen of color . . . to go back to where they came from”; and “attacked black journalists” saying the questions they asked were “stupid and racist,” Ms. Scott said.
Mr. Trump called the question “rude” and “disgraceful,” but he had to know this wouldn’t be a love-fest. Mr. Trump also said, oddly, that Kamala Harris was “always of Indian heritage” and he “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.”
The main thing I can think of that he might have accomplished is that he showed he’s willing to talk to a hostile audience.
You often invoke Occam’s razor. I think it applies. He’s willing to go into unfriendly waters. That’s all.
The reporter was a hack. She might as well have said “so, Mr Trump, being the horrid racist you are, how dare you be here, and why are you such a horrid racist”. It made a mockery of the journalism profession.
Contrast with Dems, and I guarantee you, Harris. It will be softball world all the time and every way. Just look at the past week.
Trump has balls. The job of president isn’t to field softballs from sycophants.
@Dave Schuler
You might want to make a change.
From:
… he’s willing to talk to a hostile audience.
To:
… he’s willing to talk to any audience.
He is an entertainer and quite entertaining.
Meanwhile President Biden and VP Harris are content to preach devoutly to the choir.
It reminds me of something I read some years ago about progressives being so busy weeding out heretics they are uninterested in making converts.
I think that’s insightful, Dave.
The election will boil down to which candidate is most entertaining. Harris makes her appeal to tightly selected audiences while Trump’s audience selects itself.
Folks seem to have forgotten that one of the three on the panel was a Fox News reporter. The opening question that some consider so awful consisted of a bunch of Trump quotes about black people and then asking Trump why black people should trust him. So, so unfair.
Steve
steve: I honestly have no idea what Donald Trump was trying to accomplish
Trump’s whole schtick is to say something outrageous to capture attention, then do something else outrageous to erase the effect of the last outrageous comment. His opponent has little chance to respond to the first outrage before the second outrage diverts the media’s attention. Trump pummeled Hillary this way (with Russia helping to amplify Trump’s messaging). Biden fought and barely won by keeping a low profile and staying focused. Kamala has captured and retained the media’s attention so far, with her dramatic elevation to presumptive nominee, followed by Trump’s racist statements, then Dark Brandon‘s successful hostage negotiation. Trump is struggling for attention with his negativity against Kamala’s positivity.
(Trump’s outrage is typically in the form of a tergiversation, speaking to the perennially outraged far right while retaining plausible deniability for the sycophantic near right, but always with the aim to capture the media’s attention.)
Well, as I see it, Harris self-identifies as Black. The country’s Black leadership, (Brown), the Black journalists, and the Black community accepted that as fact.
If you are White, then you keep her name out of your mouth.
If you’re white, and don’t hate yourself, then how does that rejection make you want to vote blue?
Moderation help, please.
Oh come on, she’s a big girl.
Grey Shambler: Well, as I see it, Harris self-identifies as Black. The country’s Black leadership, (Brown), the Black journalists, and the Black community accepted that as fact.
Presumably because it is a fact.
Grey Shambler: If you are White, then you keep her name out of your mouth.
Harris is certainly subject to criticism, but it is also fair to point out the inherent racism in Trump saying she isn’t really Black.
{Oops. Comment quoted above should have been attributed to Dave Schuler, not steve.}
Fair enough for politics but the question was why Trump……
Making a point that his base, (all he needs, if they turn out), will recognize as unfair.
Vote Blue because I’m Black, vote R you’re a racist.
Never had much hope of cracking the confederacy’s lock on the Black vote.
Grey Shambler: Making a point that his base, (all he needs, if they turn out), will recognize as unfair.
Saying Harris isn’t Black is hardly unfair to Trump’s base, especially considering that she really is, in fact, Black and biracial, and has identified as Black and biracial her entire life. Do you mean Trump’s base will recognize his racist rhetoric and react positively towards Trump?
Grey Shambler: Vote Blue because I’m Black, vote R you’re a racist.
“Vote Blue because I’m Black” is not the best reason to vote for someone, especially on the national level, but “vote R” and you’re voting for someone who makes racist comments about his opponent is one reason to avoid voting for that person—assuming you are anti-racist.
Grey Shambler: Never had much hope of cracking the confederacy’s lock on the Black vote.
Huh? Republicans used to have substantial Black support.
WELL, you’re awake now!
Question from Dave was “I really have no idea what Trump was trying to accomplish”
He’s trying to WIN! There’s no Black vote for him, never was. But he showed up and got the message across that he’s not gonna discriminate against anyone.
That they’re suckers for plantation bullshit he knows. Still, you show up, tell the truth and keep the news cycle going.
Notice he didn’t just dance around and laugh. Yeah, he can’t turn it all around, Piketty is right, it’s groupthink and shared spoils for the deep state, but he’s sand in their gears.
Grey Shambler: But he showed up and got the message across that he’s not gonna discriminate against anyone.
Denying that Harris is Black stokes racial division, not that Trump is against discrimination.
Confirming or denying she’s Black?
SHES done both so it’s fair game.
Trump COULD be a gentleman and let HER lead the debate. Romney tried that.
He lost. All those words and effort when all you really wanted to say was,
F@@k Trump!
See, it’s easy enough.
Grey Shambler: Confirming or denying she’s Black? SHES done both so it’s fair game.
Harris has never denied being Black.
Gee whiz. She wrote about being Black in a New York Times bestseller. Her father is Black. She was bused for integration as a Black. She went to a historically Black university, Howard. She joined a historically Black sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. She was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. On the other hand, her mother was of South Asian descent, of which she is also proud.
Hi Dave,
Any idea why Zachriel keeps ending up in moderation? Only one link per comment, even though several may be relevant. (PS. Your work maintaining the forum is appreciated.)
Zachriel
“Everyone who doesn’t want Trump in office was like, okay who do we turn to? And she just has these funny relatable moments online,” said Bailey Stoltzfus, a law student in Arizona who has posted about Harris on X. “She’s goofy, people characterize her as a wine aunt.” A spokesperson for Harris declined to comment on the memes.
Okay, she’s Black , and a lightweight .
Question was never IS SHE BLACK.
Question was, does Trump have any right to question that, or point out her flaws.
Thank GOD we have a candidate who has the nuts to to question the woke agenda.
And it’s woke candidates.
Grey Shambler: Question was never IS SHE BLACK.
That’s literally the question Trump asked: “So I don’t know, is she Indian, or IS SHE BLACK?” Nor have you corrected your previous misstatement that Harris had ever denied she was Black.
Her father SAID he is an Irish descended Jamaican born Caucasian.
Which means not Black in my book.
BTW, People from India LOOK like her.
But who cares? She’s qualified, right?
Of course, that is that he IDENTIFIES as Caucasian.
Snopes says Kamala has been consistent in IDENTIFYING as one or the other over her career.
Just love how this brings us all together.
Grey Shambler: Her father SAID he is an Irish descended Jamaican born Caucasian.
Nearly all people of African descent with deep roots in the Americas have a slave owner as part of their ancestry.
Grey Shambler: Of course, that is that he IDENTIFIES as Caucasian.
Donald Harris identifies as a Jamaican of primarily African descent, and was the first Black person to receive tenure at Stanford’s economics department.
cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/8rv7oucSLppsMiBvLcnnPm-1024-80.webp
Grey Shambler: Snopes says Kamala has been consistent in IDENTIFYING as one or the other over her career.
Snopes says Harris is both Indian and Black, her father “a Black man from Jamaica”, her mother “born in Chennai, India”.
snopes.com/fact-check/kamala-harris-ap-race-headlines
Even if you win and she is a Black woman,
to step from that to she deserves the Black vote is Progressive Liberal conceit.
Black voters today are allowed to step off the plantation and vote their own way.