New Delhi: Former US president Donald Trump Thursday doubled down on his attack on Kamala Harris’ race despite bipartisan backlash to his controversial comments the day before that the Democratic candidate had “happened to turn Black”.
Trump shared a photo of the US Vice President dressed in a sari with her Indian mother’s side of the family, saying: “Thank you Kamala for the nice picture you sent from many years ago! Your warmth, friendship, and love of your Indian Heritage are very much appreciated”. The sarcastic post appeared to suggest that because she flaunts her Indian roots, she could not possibly be Black.
Harris, who is biracial — born in Chennai to Jamaican father Donald Harris and Indian-American mother Shyamala Gopalan — has always acknowledged both sides of her heritage as mentioned in her 2019 memoir The Truths We Hold.
Thank you Kamala for the nice picture you sent from many years ago! Your warmth, friendship, and love of your Indian Heritage are very much appreciated.
Donald Trump Truth Social 09:56 AM EST 08/01/24 @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/13mKGX5AkZ
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) August 1, 2024
She also studied at the historically Black institution Howard University where she was a part of the Black sorority.
‘Indian or Black?
On Wednesday, Trump raised the issue of Harris’ heritage at an appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago, where he said she “was always of Indian heritage” and that he did not know “she was Black”.
“I have known her (Kamala Harris) for a long time indirectly… and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting (her) Indian heritage, I did not know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and she now wants to be known as Black,” Trump proclaimed at the conference.
Trump’s renewed attacks on Harris comes as the presidential race between the two candidates have tightened since the Democrat became the presumptive nominee of the party after Joe Biden stepped down.
Hours after Trump’s appearance in Chicago, Harris rebutted his attacks saying in Houston, “It was the same old show — the divisiveness and the disrespect. And let me just say that the American people deserve better.”
Trump’s comments also faced pushback from the White House. Press Secretary at the White House Karine Jean-Pierre told journalists Wednesday that the Republican’s comments were “repulsive” and “insulting”.
“As a person of colour, as a Black woman who is in this position, that is standing before you — at this podium, behind this lectern — what he just said, what you just read out to me is repulsive. It’s insulting. And, you know, no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify. That is no one’s right. It is someone’s own decisions,” Jean-Pierre said at the press briefing.
Also read: Will the Kamala Harris honeymoon last? She’s on a bumpy road while Trump cruises smoothly
Republicans rally behind Trump but some criticise comments
While most Republican party leaders have either kept mum or have come out in support of Trump’s racial attacks, some have reacted sharply to the comments.
Larry Hogan, the former Republican governor of Maryland, criticised the statements, without directly naming him. “It’s unacceptable and abhorrent to attack Vice President Harris or anyone’s racial identity. The American people deserve better,” said Hogan on X.
It's unacceptable and abhorrent to attack Vice President Harris or anyone’s racial identity. The American people deserve better.
— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) July 31, 2024
Hogan, who is running as a Senate candidate for Maryland, is trailing behind the Democratic candidate Angela Alsobrooks, according to polls. Alsobrooks is Black.
Senator Josh Hawley said it’s “not a great idea for either of the parties to be playing racial identity politics”, while Senator Steve Danies said the “better approach is to focus on (the) policies of Kamala Harris”, according to Axios.
But many Republican leaders amplified Trump’s sentiments, taking to social media to attack Harris. Right-wing activist Laura Loomer shared a document purported to be Harris’ birth certificate as proof that the American Vice President was lying about her race.
I have a copy of Kamala Harris’s @KamalaHarris’s birth certificate.
Nowhere on her birth certificate does it say that she is BLACK OR AFRICAN. @KamalaHQ is a liar.
Donald Trump is correct. Kamala Harris is NOT black and never has been.
She is also the descendent of slave… pic.twitter.com/E0uq1TCfFy
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) July 31, 2024
Senator J.D. Vance, Trump’s running mate, supported the former president’s claim on Harris’ race, calling her a “phony” during a campaign event in Arizona Wednesday.
“You guys want to hear that truth about Kamala Harris? Kamala Harris is a phony who caters to whatever audience is in front of her. I do not know if you saw this, but look up the clip, she went down to Georgia and started talking with a fake Southern accent,” said Vance.
Harris has lead over Trump
A poll by Reuters/Ipsos last week showed Harris with a one-point lead over Trump, with voters coming to view the Vice President more favourably in the last month.
Since Harris consolidated her hold over the Democratic machinery, the party has received hundreds of millions of dollars in donations, with an injection of excitement into the campaign, which was missing during the last few weeks of the Biden campaign.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: How concerns over Biden’s age snowballed, left him isolated with flagging campaign & led to his exit
Trump should ask his VP nominee JDVance about what race their kids belong to, white or Indian. It’s not surprising that trump is using race to attack opponent, his standards are too low!