Ex-president and current Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made his first-ever appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) annual convention in Chicago Wednesday for a sit-down interview in front of a live audience.
The road leading up to his appearance was a controversial and contentious one, with many in the group having said an appearance by Trump would only give him another forum for his racism. The interview itself was filled with insults to Vice President Kamala Harris. He questioned her racial identity and described himself as the “best president for Black Americans since Abraham Lincoln.”
The event was moderated by Rachel Scott, senior congressional correspondent for ABC News; Harris Faulkner, anchor of The Faulkner Focus and co-host of Outnumbered on FOX News; and Kadia Goba, politics reporter at Semafor. What was set to be a one-hour discussion was cut short when his staff pulled the former president from the stage after thirty minutes of him spewing hostility. Television and social media were flooded immediately with clips of Trump’s remarks and discussion of the ex-president’s history of hostility toward Black Americans.
It was clear from the start of the event that Trump was not interested in dialogue with Black journalists or in honestly answering their questions; rather, he was using his appearance at the gathering to gin up support from his right-wing base for his overt racism and for the insults he directed at both Harris and the Black women on stage.
Scott began the interview by referencing Trump’s false birther accusations toward former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Hailey and former President Barack Obama, along with his past associations with white supremacists. After laying that groundwork, she asked, “Why should Black voters vote for you? Why should Black voters trust you after you’ve used language like that?”
Trump replied with, “First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner. You don’t even say, ‘Hello, how are you.’” The former president then went on to attack Scott’s employer, stating, “Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network, a terrible network. And I think it’s shameful [that] I came here in good spirits. I love the Black population of this country.”
Trump then went on to falsely claim that he’s helped the Black community in a variety of ways, including with employment and by providing money to historically Black colleges. Yet, instead of going further and providing actual specifics of what he plans to do in a potential second term in office, Trump pivoted to attacking President Joe Biden and Harris and insinuated that the leadership of the NABJ had invited him to the convention under “false pretenses.”
“I was invited here and told my opponent, whether it was Biden or Kamala, I was told my opponent was going to be here. It turned out my opponent [wasn’t] here.” Trump then went on to allege the interview was starting a half-hour late due to NABJ’s incompetence in not having their audio equipment together. It was the standard racist line, essentially, that Black people are often late and incompetent.
It was reported by the New York Times that 45 minutes before Trump took the stage, his team pushed back on NABJ staffers wanting to live fact-check the event. Before it began, NABJ leadership claimed they worked with PolitiFact to provide live fact-checking updates under the hashtag #NABJFactCheck.
When Trump was finished with his diversionary tactics, Scott again pressed the ex-president to answer her question directly. Trump responded, “That’s my answer. I have been the best president for the Black community since Abraham Lincoln.”
Scott then asked him if he agreed with his GOP colleagues calling Harris a “DEI candidate” and, if not, would he ask them to stop using such rhetoric. To this, Trump answered her question with a question: “How do you define DEI?”
When pressed further on whether he thought Harris was only on the presidential ticket because she was Black, Trump began to spin a tale that questioned the vice president’s racial identity. He accused Harris of only identifying with her Indian heritage previously, allegedly until a couple of years ago, and that it was only recently that she “turned Black.” He then asked, “Is she Indian, or is she Black?”
Trump’s tirades are in line with narrative pushed lately by his campaign and Republicans that Harris has never identified with the Black community (which has been fact-checked as false) and that she caused harm to Black men because of the incarceration of those found guilty in her time as a district attorney in California.
Trump’s false accusations come at the same time that a number of recent polls show him trailing behind Harris when it comes to not just Black voters but voters in general.
When Fox News host Faulkner, whom Trump praised for his recent one-on-one interview with her, asked Trump what his message was in coming to the event, Trump bragged about allegedly “protecting the border” and “preventing immigrants from taking away jobs—particularly Black jobs.” When asked what exactly he considered a Black job, the GOP nominee said, “Anyone who has a job.”
In recent weeks, Trump has promised to give police officers “federal immunity” so they can, as he claims, “do their jobs.” Goba brought this up in the context of the tragic murder of Sonya Massey at the hands of former deputy Sean Grayson in Illinois and asked whether Grayson would have immunity under a second Trump administration. He was evasive, dodging the question.
Trump seemed to not know the full details of Massey’s case, referring to it as the situation “with the water” and saying what he saw “was not good” but that his federal immunity would be for officers who made “innocent mistakes” or were being wrongly prosecuted . It was unclear who would be in charge of determining the difference between malicious police misconduct and “innocent” police misconduct.
The topic of reproductive rights for women was met with Trump claiming it was really the Democratic Party that is “radical on abortion.” He made a false claim, which he has made repeatedly, that Democrats want to kill babies after they are born.
When discussing the justice system, he claimed Democrats were using it to try and prosecute him wrongly. Instead of addressing the question of why he would pardon the Jan. 6 rioters, he falsely stated that no one died during his 2021 coup attempt (seven people died) and compared the situation to the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis—St. Paul, claiming that none of those protesters were reprimanded (another untrue statement).
After further conversation, including a discussion of Trump’s inaccurate assessment of the causes of inflation, his friendship with Elon Musk, and his claim that most immigrants come from prisons or “mental institutions,” the Trump team apparently decided enough was enough and cut the interview short. Their candidate stood up to leave the stage just as one of the journalists brought up Project 2025—the massive 900-page document that lays out a detailed far-right policy blueprint for the next Republican president.
The aftermath of the spectacle was felt immediately, as members of NABJ, many of whom had spoken out against Trump appearing at their convention, questioned whether anything was gained by having the Republican nominee on stage.
White House correspondent April D. Ryan, who, along with a number of Black women journalists, have had insults thrown at them by the former president, stated on her Twitter (X) account, “Trump came into our home, a Black Press advocacy convention, and insulted us in our face. What is worse, he was invited to do this by NABJ leadership. Shame!”
NABJ President Ken Lemon issued a statement to the membership before Trump’s appearance saying that the organization’s invitation to Trump was in line with “NABJ’s usual practices since 1976” and that “it has always been our policy to ensure that candidates know that an invitation is not an endorsement. We also agreed that while the race is much different—and contentious—so are the consequences.” Lemon said “no” when asked if questions would be taken from the audience.
The Harris campaign, for its part, issued a scathing statement after Trump’s appearance, noting, “Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency—while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in…. Today’s tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been the hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies this entire campaign.”
Trump’s team promptly issued its own statement entitled “Trump Campaign Statement on Liberal Mainstream Media Malpractice.” It stated that Trump, unlike Biden and Harris, backed up his support for “All Americans” by showing up to the NABJ convention. His campaign called the questions asked of him at the event “unhinged and unprofessional.” The statement claimed that Democrats have no plan for the country, that ”today’s biased and rude treatment from certain hostile members of the media will backfire massively,” and that “this will be their undoing in 2024.”
Although Trump may not have expanded his reach with Black voters with his appearance, it’s likely that this wasn’t his intention anyway. His real goal, given the nature of his remarks, appear aimed instead at deepening his connection to his MAGA supporters, who support his notions of “fake news,” his practice of vilifying the press, and his racism.
The NABJ decision to invite Trump and give him a platform to speak also raises questions about the media’s responsibility in covering a nominee who is such a major threat to democracy.
Fact checks are all well and good, but as has been seen time and again, when Trump is given a microphone, he is often allowed to speak his “truths” without much immediate rebuttal. Are “sit-down interviews,” especially in spaces meant to celebrate the very people Trump vilifies, really the best way to bring news and information to voters?
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