While the world was watching, three Black journalists questioned former Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump before a Black media organization.
He insulted the moderator and in classic Trump style, he made many false claims that he repeated as political talking points.
Some questions during the interview were tough, while others were not. However, in a highly watched interview that lasted just 37 minutes, two of the most critical issues that concern Black America were not discussed. Does Trump support giving reparations to Blacks who are still struggling centuries after wealthy white plantation owners prospered on the backs of poor enslaved Blacks? And does Trump support Project 2025, his former conservative cabinet members’ plan to radically transform the federal government?
Those questions were not asked during a contentious interview on Wednesday, July 31, the first day of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention at the Chicago Hilton. The interviewers were ABC News Reporter Rachel Scott, Semafor’s Kadia Goba and Fox News host Harris Faulkner.
Over 1,100 people crowded the hotel’s grand ballroom to hear Trump spew false information about Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity and his claim that most Americans wanted the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade overturned.
Scott opened the interview with a hard question that set the tone for the entire discussion. She asked Trump, “…You’ve used words like animal and rabbit to describe Black district attorneys. You’ve attacked Black journalists, calling them a loser, saying the questions they asked are ‘stupid and racist.’ You had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar-a-Lago resort. So, my question, sir, now that you’re asking Black supporters to vote for you, why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?”
Trump replied, “I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner—a first question. 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. I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirits. I love the Black population of this country. I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country.”
During the interview, Trump said he had been the best president for Black people since President Abraham Lincoln. He also said he had been invited to the interview under “false pretenses” after being told that Vice President Harris would be present at the convention.
Trump repeated the unsubstantiated claim that undocumented immigrants were planning on taking “Black jobs,” an assertion that many have condemned as racist.
When Scott asked Trump to clarify his statement, the former president replied, “Anybody that has a job – that’s what it is. They’re taking the employment away from Black people.”
Also, during the interview, Trump falsely claimed that Harris did not pass her bar exam to become a lawyer. When Scott asked Trump as president if he plans to pardon the rioters who were convicted for their actions on 6 January, Trump evaded the question by focusing on rioters in cities like Seattle and Minneapolis, the sites of the George Floyd civil unrest.
Scott also asked Trump about Republicans’ claim that Harris is a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) replacement for Joe Biden.
In response, Trump claimed that Harris suddenly “became a Black woman” and had previously only been identifying with her Indian heritage. “Is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said, as the audience audibly gasped. “I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t because she was Indian all the way and then all of a sudden, she became a Black woman.”
Scott replied that Trump’s claim was not true because Harris, whose father is a Jamaican, has always identified as a Black woman.
Jasmine Harris, the Black media director for Kamala Harris’s campaign, released a statement in response to the former president’s lies and attacks on members of the press.
“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 play in our democracy,” Harris said.
“We know that Donald Trump is going to lie about his record and the real harm he’s caused Black communities at NABJ- and he must be called out,” she added.
Near the end of the interview, one of the moderators asked a question about Project 2025, but time ran out, and the question was never answered.
Along with giving reparations to descendants of enslaved Blacks, Project 2025 has been a hot political topic that concerns Black voters, many of whom still don’t know anything about it. As he seeks re-election, Trump has distanced himself from the plan.
Released in 2023 by the conservative Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 is a 900-page document that outlines plans to radically transform the U.S. government to reflect the values of Trump’s Republican Party. Most of it was written by former members of Trump’s cabinet and administration.
The document calls for the sacking of thousands of civil servants, expanding the power of the president, dismantling the Department of Education, sweeping tax cuts, a ban on p*rnography, halting sales of the abortion pill, and more.
Project 2025 aims to remove police departments under federal oversight because of racial discrimination. The plan calls for stricter sentencing guidelines for convicted felons that could lead to higher prison populations for Black men.
The plan also aims to reduce Medicare and Medicaid as well as affiliated offices that research treatments for insidious diseases and approve prescriptions, medical devices, and personal products like cosmetics.
A year into Trump’s term in office, the foundation reportedly boasted that Trump’s administration had adopted nearly two-thirds of its proposals.
