Zac AndersonUSA TODAY
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Former President Donald Trump reinserted himself into the spotlight seized by his new Democratic rival, and in familiar fashion Wednesday, engaging in a string of inflammatory comments — this time questioning Vice President Kamala Harris' racial identity.
Trump falsely asserted during an event with Black journalists that Harris was "Indian all the way" and suddenly "became a Black person." He also gave credence to those suggesting Harris doesn't deserve to be vice president by saying she "could be" in the job because of a push for diversity, equity and inclusion. And he lambasted one of the events' Black moderators as "very rude," turning the event into a spectacle that could refocus attention on his own 2024 White House campaign.
President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race and the party’s quick coalescing around Harris, the first Indian American and Black vice president, has reenergized Democrats. Harris is riding a wave of media attention and campaign momentum, including huge fundraising totals and a rally in Atlanta on Tuesday night that drew a much larger crowd than typical Biden events. The shakeup on the Democratic side has disoriented Trump’s campaign and pushed the former president into the background after months of dominating headlines.
Wednesday's Trump appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago is the type of event that was sure to attract attention. It began creating waves before Trump ever spoke, after some NABJ members complained about giving the former president a platform and one stepped down as co-chair of the event.
Trump has long been accused of racism, from his reaction to a white supremacist rally in Virginia in 2017 to his descriptions of undocumented immigrants. This week his nephew released a book detailing an episode where Trump allegedly used a racial slur. Yet polls show him making gains with Black male voters and the NABJ event offered him an opportunity to again reach out to that community and try to solidify his support, even as he now faces a Black opponent who would be the first Black woman president if elected in November.
In delving into racial issues with a group that is highly attuned to such concerns and would press him aggressively, Trump created the kind of media moment - rife with conflict and controversy - that he thrives on. Here are four takeaways from the event.
'Chaos is his friend'
Trump has long been willing to wade into fraught political territory with inflammatory statements, many of them touching on racial issues.
His comments about Harris are just the latest example.
“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?” Trump said Wednesday.
Harris went to a historically Black college, joined a Black sorority and was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Questioning Harris' racial identity is sure to provoke outrage, something Trump thrives on. He came to prominence in politics thanks to another racially-charged crusade: Promoting the false "birtherism" theory that former President Barak Obama wasn't born in the United States.
"Chaos is his friend, chaos is a partner that he uses and he knows how to use really well to get himself elected," University of Illinois-Chicago political science and communication professor Zizi Papacharissi said in an interview before Wednesday's event, adding: "Chaos and noise is an election strategy for him. Above all he’s trying to create noise and distraction."
Trump picks a fight
Trump has dominated the news cycle for much of the election, with daily coverage of his criminal trial and a flurry of attention after his assassination attempt. That culminated in a convention that was widely viewed as a messaging success, as Trump appeared with his bandaged ear and was showered with adulation.
But the former president hasn't been the focus of campaign coverage since Biden stepped aside and Harris emerged as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, with her own vice presidential pick expected within days. He has tried to find ways to break through, repeatedly attacking Harris to no avail.
Trump has long proven he's willing to go a step further than other politicians, and his latest comments are part of a pattern of ratcheting up the controversy quotient.
"His type of messaging thrives on being center stage, even at the expense of some controversy, a level of controversy that might be damaging for other politicians," Northwestern University communications professor Pablo Boczkowski said in an interview Tuesday.
Picking a fight is a favorite Trump pastime. His appetite for conflict was evident from the beginning of Wednesday's event, when he excoriated a journalist for her first question noting his history of racially-charged language and asking why Black voters should trust him.
"I don't think I've ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner, the first question," Trump responded, adding "I think it's a very rude introduction."
Trump criticized the reporter again later, saying she treated him "very rudely."
Trump's effort to change the conversation comes as the limited amount of attention his campaign is receiving lately hasn't been flattering. His running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, has been in the news over comments he made about childless people.
On the defensive over Vance's "childless cat ladies" comments
Vance said in a 2021 interview that the country was being run by "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too."
"It's just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” Vance added. “And how does it make any sense that we've turned our country over to people who don't really have a direct stake in it?"
Those comments have resurfaced since Vance was selected as Trump's running mate. Concerns about alienating childless Americans have the GOP campaign on the defensive.
Trump was quick to say Wednesday that there is nothing wrong with being childless.
"He strongly believes in family but I know people with great families, I know people with not great families that don't have a family and the people without the family are far better, they're superior in many cases," Trump said.
Trump added that “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.”
Cleaning up his running mate's comments is not where Trump hoped to be after selecting Vance, who is starting the campaign with low favorability numbers.
Trump even downplayed the idea Wednesday that it matters who the vice presidential nominee is, saying people are voting for him, not Vance.
"Historically, the vice president in terms of the election does not have any impact, I mean virtually no impact," Trump said, adding that the individual can be "outstanding" and he believes Vance fits that description but "you're voting for the president, you're voting for me."
Wobbling on police immunity
In addition to defending Vance, Trump also found himself defending his history of aggressively supporting the police in the wake of another police shooting of an unarmed Black individual.
Trump has called for giving police officers immunity from prosecution.
An Illinois officer has been arrested and charged with murder after killing Sonya Massey in her Springfield home after she called for help.
"It didn't look good to me," Trump said of the Massey shooting, noting the officer is being charged.
Pressed on whether the officer should receive immunity, Trump said "you might not, I mean it depends... I'm talking about people that are much different cases than that."
