‘An absolute dumpster fire’: Donald Trump slammed over remarks about Kamala Harris’s racial identity

Donald Trump has been severely criticised over fresh remarks about the race of his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Donald Trump has been severely criticised over his remarks at an event attended by black journalists, where he repeatedly clashed with the female moderators and questioned whether his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, was being honest about her heritage.

Ms Harris was born in the United States. Her parents were both immigrants, with her mother originally hailing from India and her father from Jamaica.

On Wednesday, US time, Mr Trump appeared at an event hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists, where he was questioned on stage by ABC News journalist Rachel Scott, Semafor’s Kadia Goba and Fox News host Harris Faulkner.

It was tense, to say the least.

Mr Trump repeatedly clashed with the journalists on stage, particularly ABC News’ Rachel Scott. Picture: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP

What Trump said at the event

Ms Scott offended Mr Trump immediately, starting her line of questioning by bringing up some of the former president’s previous remarks.

“A lot of people did not think it was appropriate for you to be here today,” she said.

“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 colour who were American citizens to go back where they came from.

“You have used words like ‘animal’ and ‘rabid’ to describe black district attorneys. You’ve attacked black journalists, calling them ‘losers’, 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?”

“Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” Mr Trump responded. The crowd laughed.

“You don’t even say, ‘Hello, how are you?’ Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network, a terrible network. And I think it’s disgraceful that I came here, in good spirit. You were half an hour late. Just so you understand, I have too much respect for you to be late. They couldn’t get their equipment working or something.”

“Mr President, I would love it if you could answer the question,” Ms Scott interjected.

“I have answered the question,” Mr Trump said.

Donald Trump. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images via AFP

The tone did not improve when the panel brought up a specific type of criticism, from within Mr Trump’s party, towards his opponent, Ms Harris.

“Some of your own supporters, including Republicans on Capitol Hill, have labelled Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the first black and Asian-American woman to serve as vice president on a major party ticket, a DEI hire,” said Ms Scott.

“Is that acceptable language to you, and will you tell Republicans, and those supporters, to stop it?”

DEI stands for “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion”. The implication of these attacks on Ms Harris is that she is only the Democratic candidate, and was only selected to be Joe Biden’s Vice President in the first place, because of her race and gender.

“How do you define DEI? Go ahead,” Mr Trump said.

“Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” Ms Scott said.

“OK, yeah. Go ahead. Is that what your definition (is)?” he replied.

“That is literally the words,” she said.

“Give me a definition,” Mr Trump said.

“Sir, I’m asking you a question,” Ms Scott said.

“No you have to define it. Define it. Define it for me,” said the former president.

“I just defined it, sir. Do you believe Vice President Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she is a black woman?” Ms Scott asked.

Mr Trump during the event. Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images via AFP

“Well I can say no, I think it’s, maybe, a little bit different,” said Mr Trump.

“I’ve known her a long time, indirectly. Not directly, very much. And 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?”

“She has always identified as a black woman,” said Ms Scott.

“I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t,” Mr Trump persisted.

“Because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn, and she went, she became a black person. I think somebody should look into that too. When you continue in a very hostile, a nasty tone.”

The crowd laughed again at this point.

Another awkward moment occurred when Ms Faulkner asked Mr Trump to clarify his “message” to the audience in the venue.

“My message is to stop people from invading our country that are taking, frankly, a lot of problems with it, but a lot of big problems, and a lot of the journalists in this room might know, and I have a lot of respect for – a lot of the journalists in this room are black,” Mr Trump responded.

“I will tell you that, coming from the border, are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking black jobs.”

“What exactly is a ‘black job’, sir?” Ms Scott asked.

“A black job is anybody that has a job. That’s what it is. Anybody that has a job,” the former president answered.

“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 or 16 million people.”

Mr Trump pictured at the event, which was held in Chicago. Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images via AFP

‘Rude and nasty’: Trump lashes out at moderators

Reacting to the event afterwards on his social media platform, Truth Social, Mr Trump slammed the three journalists who’d hosted it, while also insisting he had “crushed it”.

“The questions were Rude and Nasty, often in the form of a statement, but we CRUSHED IT!” Mr Trump wrote.

He also shared an old video of Ms Harris cooking with comedic actress Mindy Kaling, in which the pair acknowledged her Indian heritage.

“So what we’re going to cook today is an Indian recipe. Because you are Indian! And I don’t know if everybody knows that,” Ms Kaling says in the clip.

“We are both Indian, but actually, we are both south Indian.”

“Yes, you look like the entire one half of my family,” Ms Harris replies.

“Crazy Kamala is saying she’s Indian, not Black. This is a big deal. Stone cold phony. She uses everybody, including her racial identity!” Mr Trump wrote underneath the clip.

‘Absolute dumpster fire’

Meanwhile, pundits were busy blasting his performance.

“My reaction is that it was a complete, absolute dumpster fire for the former president,” Jessica Tarlov, a Democratic strategist and Fox News host, told the network.

“I don’t feel the need to give him any credit for showing up there, because he came with a terrible attitude.

“He hit all of his regular hits, lying about his record for black Americans. The comparison saying he’s done the most for the black community since Abraham Lincoln, is obviously ridiculous. Unemployment is lower for black Americans under Joe Biden than it was under Donald Trump, everybody knows that. Even Donald Trump knows that.

“I thought he was rude and offensive to the questioners.

“His response that (Kamala Harris) used to be Indian and is now, somehow, black, was offensive no matter the colour of your skin.”

Kamala Harris. Picture: Elijah Nouvelage/AFP

Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist, told CNN Mr Trump deserved credit for attending the event in what was always going to be hostile territory.

“Look, first of all, I think he deserves some points for showing up at this thing and giving it a go. Where’s Kamala Harris today? Not there,” Mr Jennings said.

“But, that having been said, he did crap the bed today. The only question is whether he’s going to roll around in it or get up and change the sheets.”

“My advice would be, get up and change your sheets, and do what your campaign is doing. The campaign knows how to prosecute the case, OK? They’re on the air with it to the tune of millions of dollars on her policy record. That’s what they should be doing.

“This is not going to end the way he wants it to end. There’s a better way to do this and they know what to do, but it’s on him to do it. It’s on him to do it.”

Republican Senator Tom Cotton, also speaking on CNN, took a valiant stab at defending Mr Trump’s remarks about Ms Harris’s heritage.

“He said either (Indian or black) is fine. Both is fine. He loves African-Americans, he loves Indian-Americans, he loves all Americans. The point is that we don’t know where she stands, politically, because she spent her entire life as a dangerous San Francisco liberal.”

But the former Republican governor of Marlyand, Larry Hogan, who is now a candidate for the Senate, took a different view.

“It is unacceptable and abhorrent to attack Vice President Harris’s or anyone’s racial identity,” Mr Hogan said.

Ms Harris herself responded briefly to the controversy, saying: “It was the same old show of divisiveness and disrespect. The American people deserve better.”