After waiting with an audience of questioners, Donald Trump finally took the stage for his appearance Wednesday at the convention for the National Association of Black Journalists more than an hour late. He blamed the delay not on the behind-the-scenes frenzy between the NABJ and his campaign over whether it could be checked in real time, but on what he described as the inability of the organizers of the to calibrate audio equipment in time for his highly controversial panel. discussion. “It’s a shame,” he said.
When ABC’s Rachel Scott opened the proceedings by asking the former president to encourage him to speak to the Black journalists, women and Chicagoans in the crowd who were routinely subjected to his hostility, Trump dismissed the question as “horrific ” and called Scott “bad” before. turning his bluster meter up to 11.
He declared that he was the best president since Abraham Lincoln from “the Black population”. He pushed back on the idea of Kamala Harris identifying as Black. (“She was an Indian, and then suddenly she turned and went.”) He uttered the word with such contempt, as if coughing up a ball of hair— buh-LAAAAA-kuh. Throughout, the crowd’s reactions ranged from incredulous laughter to deep groans. At one point the discussion shifted to Sonya Massey, the latest Black person to be unlawfully killed by police. “Are you talking [the one] with the water?” Trump asked with audible gasps.
Related: Black journalists respond to ‘disastrous’ Trump panel at annual conference
Before that, anger was the prevailing feeling among many NABJ members who saw Trump’s decision to attend the annual conference and career fair as a betrayal of the association’s core values. The Washington Post Karen Atiahwho resigned from her position as co-chair of the convention’s organizing committee in protest, among the Black journalists who spoke out about the association’s decision to even invite the presumptive Republican nominee.
NABJ president Ken Lemon defended the decision as part of a tradition of questioning national party leaders – from presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush, to nominees Barack Obama and Bob Dole. In addition, Lemon said, they invited Harris, but her campaign would only promise a video interview. Trump, however, was willing to attend in person. How could he get a chance to face “the Blacks”?
From casting former vixen Amber Rose in a speaking role at the Republican national convention to promoting his rap sheet and assassination as forms of street cred, Trump hasn’t exactly been a pollster for Black voters. Lemon and others in NABJ leadership spun Trump’s panel as an opportunity to hold his feet to the fire. But it was the attendees who were held up in the end; many panels were delayed and canceled entirely to accommodate Trump, prompting further convention abandonment.
It’s surprising that plans didn’t change earlier after waiting hours to be admitted to the venue, a huge auditorium at the end of an impressive ballroom. The security check, which was run by the Secret Service, was more thorough than the usual airport experience – fresh in the minds of some of the attendees who had rushed in straight from the plane. As more people filed in, funk music took over, giving Trump’s appearance a concert vibe. More than a handful whipped out their camera phones to take pictures with Trump’s empty stage chair in the background. High up on a projection screen directly behind was a graphic of the NABJ conference logo with the large scripted slogan: “Journalism over disinformation”. You can understand why people might be upset. “I don’t know if surreal is the right word,” NASA news chief Brittny McGraw told me, “but maybe that’s the word I’d go with.”
When Trump finally took the stage, he had the hits – promising (again) to close the border, cut inflation (how?) and “drill, baby, drill”. Facing off against the three-woman interview team that also included Semafor’s Kadia Goba and Fox News’ Harris Faulkner, he reserved all his infectious quips for the “dishonest” Scott – who appeared to not happy that he had to go through with this farce and stood firm in the face. of increased attacks.
When she interrupted Trump on the retreat hoping to tackle another question before time ran out, Trump quipped: “You’re the one who put me up!” In their back and forth, Trump seemed to have another Black woman in his sights. He might have spent more time directing his attacks on Harris if he wasn’t still so determined to knock up Joe Biden for being old; Needless to say, his complaint about not being able to hear the questions on stage made him look even older. After about 35 minutes, thank God, it was over.
In theory, three Black women should work against Trump being questioned. Many of his supporters will surely take his performance as confirmation of his suitability for the fight against Harris. But to many people in the room who could see past the blasphemy, Trump looked for all the world like an old curmudgeon who can barely think or think without making it racist in some way. When asked by Goba how he would know if he was too old to stay in the job, Trump didn’t hesitate to take another shot at Scott. “Look, if I came on stage and was treated so unluckily this woman,” he said, still smarting from her pointed line of questioning. That It was the payoff the NABJ was hoping for, and Trump has never looked more exposed.