Most people expected fireworks when it was announced that former President Donald Trump would appear at this year’s National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago.
And that’s exactly what happened almost immediately after Trump walked onto the stage, as the former president complained about the tone of the first few questions that he was asked and accused Vice President Kamala Harris of downplaying her 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,” the former president said of Harris.
“Is she Indian or is she Black?” the former president asked.
(The vice president is of Indian and Jamaican heritage.)
When Trump was asked by ABC News journalist Rachel Scott if Harris was a “DEI” hire — a term that some Republicans have lobbed against Harris to invalidate her qualifications for president due to her gender and race — he said that he was unsure.
“I really don’t know, could be,” he said.
Trump then defended his vice-presidential selection of Ohio Sen. JD Vance, attacked President Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities, and accused Harris of not passing her bar exam. (Harris passed the exam on her second try, which paved the way for her career as a San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.)
Before the conversation, many members argued that having an open forum with the GOP presidential contender was exactly what journalists should facilitate, regardless of his myriad controversies.
But Trump’s remarks will likely only further polarize many within the organization, especially as the former president took digs at the equipment used for the event.
“The mics are really in lousy shape,” he said at one point. “I cannot understand what you’re saying.”
And the conversation has heightened pressure on the NABJ from its members over the Trump visit.
NABJ President Ken Lemon in a statement Tuesday said that the organization had been in talks with Harris’ team for an in-person panel before she became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. But he said that the organization was told that such a request could not be fulfilled, adding that a virtual option was also something that the Harris team couldn’t accommodate this week.
Lemon then said that NABJ would work to schedule a panel with Harris before the election.
But April Ryan, the White House correspondent for The Grio, reported that NABJ leadership informed Harris’ team that it was preferable that she be in-person for her appearance. Ryan also reported that NABJ later approached Harris about holding a virtual town hall, but that the vice president’s team had “moved on” after their earlier request for a virtual option was denied.
SCOOP: according to those (many) familiar with this situation, Tuesday am both Ken Lemon President of NABJ and Drew Berry Executive Director of the NABJ told Harris folks she “needed” to be in Chicago in person for the convention. The NABJ shut down the conversation for a virtual… https://t.co/xORdcfsE3q
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) July 31, 2024
When Trump’s appearance at the NABJ convention was announced Monday evening, it attracted widespread criticism from a broad array of members, with many of them arguing that the longstanding organization was “platforming” a polarizing candidate whose political brand has been shaped by his disdain for journalists.
Tia Mitchell, the Washington correspondent for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, helped put together the event as a chair of the NABJ political task force. In defending the move, she took to X to argue that the invitation was part of a long line of invitations that the organization has issued to presidential candidates.
But the conversation quickly turned to accusations that the organization not been been more forthcoming about the invitation.
NABJ member Kathia Woods took to X to express her opposition to the organization’s decision to invite Trump to speak in Chicago.
“We as members have the right to say we’re disappointed and don’t agree,” she wrote.
Mitchell responded: “Members can disagree. No one is forcing them to attend. But there is precedent of such invitations and great care taken with this particular one.”
Still, despite the NABJ’s vision of an orderly discussion, Trump largely ran roughshod through the questions. And as the panel with the former president ended, divisions over his appearance seemingly only hardened further.
