CHICAGO — Former President Donald Trump spent a contentious 35 minutes dodging most questions from a panel of three Black journalists at the National Association of Black Journalists national convention Wednesday, repeating campaign trail falsehoods, questioning whether Kamala Harris is Black and disparaging his hosts.
A combative Trump took part in the question-and-answer session at the annual convention for the largest organization benefiting journalists of color. It is the first time a Republican presidential candidate has addressed the group since 2004. Major party candidates are invited every presidential cycle.
Audience members in the International Ballroom at the Hilton Chicago, made up mostly of attendees of NABJ’s convention, at times scoffed, laughed and shouted responses to comments Trump made.
The tone of the panel was set from the beginning, when Trump balked at a question from ABC News senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott. Scott repeated disparaging comments Trump has made about Black journalists, women and other people of color in general, asking him why Black voters should support him after he “used language like that.”
“Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” he said, before calling ABC News “fake news.”
“I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirits,” he said. “I love the Black population of this country. I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country.”
What followed was more than half an hour of Trump in turn answering questions with monologues on different topics and complaining he was unable to hear because of what he called NABJ’s poor audio equipment.
Lynne Patton, senior adviser to Trump, called the questions asked of the former president “unhinged and unprofessional.”
“Today’s biased and rude treatment from certain hostile members of the media will backfire massively,” Patton said in a statement. “You would think that the media would have learned something from their repeat episodes of fake outrage ever since President Trump first came down the escalator in 2015, but some just refuse to ‘get it.’ This will be their undoing in 2024.”
When asked about Republicans’ claim that Harris — who is Black Jamaican and Indian — is only at the top of the Democratic ticket because she is a “diversity, equity and inclusion hire,” Trump questioned her ethnicity.
“She was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black,” Trump said, drawing confused laughs from the audience. “I respect either one, which obviously she doesn’t, because she was Indian always and all of a sudden she made a turn, she became a Black person.”
Harris has long identified as both Indian and Black, attended a historically Black university and is a member of a historically Black sorority.
NABJ partnered with Politifact in an attempt to address complaints made during the first presidential debate in June about moderators’ lack of fact checking. Politifact attempted to fact check Trump’s comments in real time on social media.
NABJ members leaving the Trump event were stunned, questioning what they just witnessed and expressing frustration with the way the conversation unfolded.
Karen Attiah, a columnist with The Washington Post who announced Tuesday that she was stepping down from her role as a convention co-chair, said she was “deeply angry” after watching the Q&A.
“It’s like inviting somebody to our space — it’s like inviting your abuser to your birthday party,” she said.
The announcement that Trump would appear at the convention caused a backlash from some NABJ members who pointed to his treatment of Black journalists, especially Black women, as a candidate and as president. Trump has called journalists “dumb” and called questions he didn’t like “stupid.”
NABJ President Ken Lemon and other organization leaders have defended their decision to invite Trump.
“I consulted with a group of our founders and past NABJ presidents Tuesday on-site in Chicago, and as a group, we affirmed that the invitation to former President Trump was in line with NABJ’s usual practices since 1976,” he said.
Discussions for this year’s Q&As began in January, Lemon said.
As of Wednesday, NABJ organizers said they were working with the Harris campaign to set up a Q&A with the candidate either virtually or in person in September. In a news release sent before Trump’s appearance at NABJ, Harris campaign Black Media Director Jasmine Harris said the contrast between the two candidates “could not be more clear.”
“Ahead of Donald Trump’s conversation at NABJ today — let’s remember exactly who this man is. Not only does Donald Trump have a history of demeaning NABJ members and honorees who remain pillars of the Black press, he also has a history of attacking the media and working against the vital role the press plays in our democracy,” Jasmine Harris said.
Trump’s appearance at NABJ came the day after Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, held a rally in Atlanta in front of a massive crowd.
Both candidates are courting Black voters, who typically mostly back Democratic candidates.
Harris is trying to energize voters whose support had cooled toward President Joe Biden before he got out of the race. Trump is trying to either peel away Black voters to support him or sow enough doubt about Harris’ candidacy to persuade them to stay home.
Brandon Pope, an anchor with WCIU-TV in Chicago, commended NABJ for partnering with Politifact to try to counter a candidate who “lies so blatantly.”
“It’s up to all of us as journalists to look within and try to figure out how we as an industry need to adjust when you have someone who is spouting such dangerous mistruths,” Pope said. “Do the old norms of journalistic neutrality and objectivity still apply writ large to what we’re dealing with right now? It is a debate worth having and a decision has to be made because this election is here and we heard so many things that just aren’t true.”
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