A day after telling Black journalists that Vice President Kamala Harris had lately decided to become “a Black person,” Mr. Trump published a photo of Ms. Harris in traditional Indian dress.
Donald J. Trump continued to raise baseless and provocative concerns about Vice President Kamala Harris’s racial origin for a second day on Thursday, as Republicans watched the former president take his campaign into a divisive and potentially destructive direction.
A day after telling an audience of Black journalists in Chicago that Ms. Harris had “all of a sudden” decided to become “a Black person,” Mr. Trump posted a photo on his social media site of Ms. Harris dressed in a sari with a caption stating: “Your warmth, friendship, and love of your Indian Heritage are very much appreciated.”
Mr. Trump also magnified posts from Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist, who had released copies of Ms. Harris’s birth certificate and had propagated bogus charges that Ms. Harris has misled about her race.
Ms. Harris, whose father is from Jamaica, and whose mother was Indian American, has long associated with both her Black and South Asian roots.
An graduate of a historically Black college, Howard University, she responded to Mr. Trump’s comments during her speech at a convention of Black sororities on Wednesday, saying, “The American people deserve better.”
Whether Mr. Trump’s original remarks on Wednesday were premeditated or not, the Trump campaign is certainly expanding this line of attack.
“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,” Mr. Trump told the audience of Black journalists. “So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
For a Republican Party that has acclimatized itself to a decade of incendiary comments from Mr. Trump, the reaction to his latest remarks had the impression of a familiar routine: Republicans mainly rolled their eyes in private and held their tongues in public.
David Kochel, a senior Republican strategist, called the racial identity attack needless and risky when, he said, Mr. Trump had a clear case against Ms. Harris on policy grounds.
“It’s a pretty simple campaign. Why complicate with considerations about race is beyond me,” Mr. Kochel said. “The campaign is to tie her to the unpopular Biden economy and prosecute the case against her on the border.”
But Mr. Trump’s team instead leaned on his criticism of Ms. Harris’s origins. At a rally in Harrisburg, Pa. on Wednesday night, his campaign showed headlines mentioning her Indian American roots on the giant screens above the crowd.
“Rally signage is the best signage!” Jason Miller, a top Trump adviser, commented on X with the laughing emoji.
As Mr. Trump’s comments ricocheted across the political globe, lawmakers from both parties seemed to be attempting to evaluate whether such an attack would be effective in 2024, amid a growing diversifying electorate. More than 12 percent of Americans identify as multiracial.
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A day after telling Black journalists that Vice President Kamala Harris had lately decided to become “a Black person,” Mr. Trump published a photo of Ms. Harris in traditional Indian dress.
Read Also : Will the iPad Air 3 get the iPadOS 18?Donald J. Trump continued to raise baseless and provocative concerns about Vice President Kamala Harris’s racial origin for a second day on Thursday, as Republicans watched the former president take his campaign into a divisive and potentially destructive direction.
A day after telling an audience of Black journalists in Chicago that Ms. Harris had “all of a sudden” decided to become “a Black person,” Mr. Trump posted a photo on his social media site of Ms. Harris dressed in a sari with a caption stating: “Your warmth, friendship, and love of your Indian Heritage are very much appreciated.”
Mr. Trump also magnified posts from Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist, who had released copies of Ms. Harris’s birth certificate and had propagated bogus charges that Ms. Harris has misled about her race.
Ms. Harris, whose father is from Jamaica, and whose mother was Indian American, has long associated with both her Black and South Asian roots.
An graduate of a historically Black college, Howard University, she responded to Mr. Trump’s comments during her speech at a convention of Black sororities on Wednesday, saying, “The American people deserve better.”
Whether Mr. Trump’s original remarks on Wednesday were premeditated or not, the Trump campaign is certainly expanding this line of attack.
“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,” Mr. Trump told the audience of Black journalists. “So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
For a Republican Party that has acclimatized itself to a decade of incendiary comments from Mr. Trump, the reaction to his latest remarks had the impression of a familiar routine: Republicans mainly rolled their eyes in private and held their tongues in public.
David Kochel, a senior Republican strategist, called the racial identity attack needless and risky when, he said, Mr. Trump had a clear case against Ms. Harris on policy grounds.
“It’s a pretty simple campaign. Why complicate with considerations about race is beyond me,” Mr. Kochel said. “The campaign is to tie her to the unpopular Biden economy and prosecute the case against her on the border.”
But Mr. Trump’s team instead leaned on his criticism of Ms. Harris’s origins. At a rally in Harrisburg, Pa. on Wednesday night, his campaign showed headlines mentioning her Indian American roots on the giant screens above the crowd.
“Rally signage is the best signage!” Jason Miller, a top Trump adviser, commented on X with the laughing emoji.
As Mr. Trump’s comments ricocheted across the political globe, lawmakers from both parties seemed to be attempting to evaluate whether such an attack would be effective in 2024, amid a growing diversifying electorate. More than 12 percent of Americans identify as multiracial.