Former President Donald Trump questioned whether Vice President Kamala Harris is struggling with Black voters because "a lot of people didn't know" she is Black in a podcast interview that aired Thursday, while also watering down his previous false statement that Harris only recently “became a Black person.”
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a Univision Noticias town hall event on October 16, 2024 ... [+]
Trump said, chuckling, “I would never say a thing like that,” when host of the pro-Trump “PBD Podcast,” Patrick Bet-David, said Harris is “apparently Black.”
Trump then questioned whether “she’s not doing well” among Black voters “because some people” question her race.
Trump himself questioned her race in July during an appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists convention, where he said Harris, whose father is from Jamaica and whose mother is from South India, “was always of Indian heritage” but “made a turn and . . . became a Black person” (in reality, Harris has described herself as Black for decades).
Expanding on the claim later in the interview, Trump suggested polls show fewer Black men support Harris than previous Democratic candidates because “really a lot of people didn’t know” she’s Black.
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78%. That’s the share of Black likely voters polled by The New York Times and Siena College this month who said they would vote for Harris, a sharp downtick from the 90% who voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 and the 92% who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. The gap is even wider among Black men, according to the poll, which found just 70% said they will cast their ballots for Harris and 20% plan to vote for Trump, compared to 83% of Black women surveyed who said they’ll support Harris and 12% who said they plan to support Trump.
Trump also addressed his July comments about Harris’ race in the September debate with her, declaring “I couldn’t care less, whatever she wants to be is OK with me,” while falsely claiming Harris “put out” that she was not Black. There is no evidence Harris has ever denied or downplayed her mixed race, and she has repeatedly referred to her father as a Black man and herself as a Black woman throughout her political career.
Trump also claimed Apple CEO Tim Cook complained to him about the billions in antitrust fines and back taxes European Union regulators ordered Apple pay in September in a call Trump said took place “two” or “three hours” before the interview. Trump said he told Cook: “I got to get elected first, but I’m not going to let them take advantage of our companies—that won’t, you know, be happening.”
Trump Claims Kamala Harris Only Recently Identified As Black — Here’s Why That’s Not True (Forbes)
Trump Questions Kamala Harris' Race: Claims She ‘Became A Black Person’ In Combative Interview (Forbes)
Trump Says In Debate He Doesn’t ‘Care’ What Race Harris Is—After Questioning Whether She’s Black (Forbes)