Did the NABJ do us a favor by inviting Trump to answer questions from three Black women?

Posted: 5:45 pm Pacific; Updated: 9:35 pm Pacific

In the “anyone following Donald J. Trump could have predicted the outcome” category, Trump insulted three Black women moderators and claimed Kamala Harris isn’t “really” Black Wednesday. He was unaware of of details surrounding an Illinois deputy sheriff shooting and killing Sonya Massey, a Black woman, in her home earlier this month after she had called 9-1-1.

Trump appeared rattled and defensively attacked his questioner.

The occasion: the annual convention of National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).

Leading the questioning, ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott, who repeated a litany of Trump epitaphs before calming asking her open-ended (not yes-no) 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 ‘rabbit’ to describe Black district attorneys. You’ve attacked Black journalists, calling them a ‘loser,’ saying the questions that they ask are, ‘stupid and racist.’ 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?

Trump’s response:

I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question [in] such a horrible manner [laughter from the audience], the first question. You don’t even say ‘hello, how are you?’ Are you with ABC, because I think they’re a fake news network [audience gasps], a terrible network. I think it’s disgraceful…

'It's a disgrace" — here's the entirety of the first question Trump took at the NABJ and how he angrily tried to turn the tables on the journalist who asked it pic.twitter.com/OV1CY979NL

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 31, 2024

It devolved from there. When Scott asked Trump if he considered Vice President Harris a ‘DEI hire’ and if he would ask Republicans and supporters to stop it. Trump went on the attack. Taking a page from his “birther” playbook against Obama, Trump claimed, erroneously, that Kamala Harris had renounced her Black heritage for Indian heritage and implied that you couldn’t embrace both.

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, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know — is she Indian or is she Black?

Donald Trump, at the National Association of Black Journalists conference, responds to critics of Kamala Harris who have called her a "DEI hire":

"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… pic.twitter.com/lW0KSBTrhW

— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 31, 2024

Even a FOX News Fox News contributor, Jessica Tarlov, was shocked, cdescribed Trump’s performance as a “dumpster fire.”

My reaction is that it was a complete, absolute dumpster fire for the former president,” she told host Martha MacCallum. “I don’t feel the need to give him any credit for showing up there because he came with a terrible attitude.”

Trump ended the agreed-upon one hour interview after 35 minutes when asked about Project 2025.

Journalistic malpractice

The New York Times, predictably as well, puts Trump’s false charge in the headline: “Trump Questions Harris’s Racial Identity, Saying She Only ‘Became Black’ Recently.” Disinformation 101: don’t repeat the lie in the headline. #JournalisticMalpractice