OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The mainstream media created another ‘controversy’ surrounding remarks made by former President Donald Trump about Vice President Kamala Harris’ dual heritage during an interview with black journalists this week, but some videos have resurfaced, giving Trump’s remarks a lot of credibility.
“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black, and now she wants to be known as black,” Trump told the crowd, drawing some jeers.
“So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she black? Trump continued. “But you know what, I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden, she made a turn, and she went – she became a black person,” he added.
One video that has since resurfaced is from November 2019, when Harris joined actress Mindy Kaling, who is also Indian, for a cooking session. To kick it off, the future vice president and star of “The Mindy Project” discussed their shared Indian heritage:
KALING: “OK, so what we’re gonna cook today —”
Harris: “OK.”
KALING: “— is an Indian recipe.”
Harris: “Yes.”
KALING: “Because you are Indian.”
Harris: “Yes, yes, yes.”
KALING: “OK and I don’t know that everybody knows that. But I find that wherever I go and I see Indian people at the supermarket, on the street, everyone’s like, ‘You know Kamala Harris is Indian, right?’ It’s like our thing we’re so excited about to have you running for president.”
Harris: “Yeah.”
KALING: “So we’re both Indian.”
Harris: “Yes.”
KALING: “But actually, we’re both South Indian.”
Harris: “Yes, you look like the entire one half of my family.”
KALING: “OK, thank you.”
Harris: “You do. You do.”
KALING: “I’ve been telling people we’re related already so this is perfect. It’s basically true.” (Laughter)
WATCH:
Another video is a past campaign ad featuring Harris and then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden, where both heavily leaned on Harris’ Indian heritage.
WATCH:
Latest media-generated ‘Trump controversy’: “She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black, until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black.
He was right-again. 👇 pic.twitter.com/wtMTAH2g1C
— USA Features Media (@UsaFeatures) August 2, 2024
Several media outlets, including Reuters, claimed that Trump “falsely” downplayed her black heritage in the past while promoting her Indian heritage instead. While it’s true that Harris has also embraced her Jamaican lineage in the past as well, Trump was clearly not wrong in what he said; rather, the media claiming his statement is “false” is what is actually false.
Fox News’ Harris Faulkner showered Trump with praise on Thursday for wading into a “racial storm” at the National Association of Black Journalists conference.
Faulkner, who co-moderated a panel conversation with Trump on Wednesday, took a different stance than some have in the mainstream media.
“I’m watching that back and I’m seeing that we were able to, at some points, the former president and I, have a conversation. So much of what America is focused on today and so much of what that started with, with all that emotion and the gotcha moments from the interviewer who was seated directly to his left has really overtaken the fact that we had a an opportunity to talk with a president who walked into a racial storm yesterday,” Faulkner said during an appearance on Fox & Friends.
The other interviewer Faulkner mentioned, Rachel Scott of ABC News, opened the session with a question that Trump described as “very nasty.”
“There were journalists, activists, whatever you want to call people who let their politics show, who wanted the NABJ to rescind its offer to have the 45th president of the United States come and sit,” added Faulkner.
“They had also invited Joe Biden, and he had said yes, but he’s not on the ticket anymore. They’ve also invited Kamala Harris. Finally, yesterday, after some reported back and forth about her schedule, so on and so forth, she’ll do something via satellite. And I know she’s attending Representative Sheila Jackson Lee’s funeral today, but NABJ is several days, it’s, five days, Wednesday through Sunday. So, that has been worked out,” Faulkner added.
She noted further:
But all of that I say because there were protesters who were forecast to come, and then the internal stuff that was going on, he walks out on stage and not a greeting to acknowledge it’s been 18 days at that point since you survived an assassination attempt. We’re going to ask you tough questions, but Mr. President, welcome and we’re glad you’re still here. I mean, it didn’t take much to show humanity and in that moment, I was so disappointed that that didn’t happen. I couldn’t control it, but it got things off to an emotional start. And you and I both know that once that happens and you’re interviewing someone, there is an agenda.
