Last updated on August 29th, 2024 at 02:11 pm
Washington – Former President Donald Trump has drawn criticism for questioning the ethnic background of one of his American election rivals Kamala Harris. This latest incident is one of many incendiary comments and actions he has made on race issues.
Trump’s political career began in the 2010s with the “birther” conspiracy theory, suggesting that then-President Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan father, was not born in the United States and had somehow hidden his foreign birth in a conspiracy with the state of Hawaii.
Critics note that several other incidents have been considered an indication of his racist tendencies, including but not limited to being sued for discriminating against Black tenants in the 1970s and making controversial comments about white supremacist marchers in 2017.
Trump was recently heard to say of Harris, speaking for the first female and non-white vice president, this comment: “She became a Black person”. Harris is a mixed national of both Black and South Asian racial descents. She has never failed to identify as anything other than how she is.
Media Exposure and Public Reaction
And Trump’s comments threw him back into the media conversation that had recently refocused on Harris following her entry in the White House race. But he also shone the light back on his long, sordid history of racial transgressions.
Controversial Interaction :
These inflammatory comments came in the midst of a heated confrontation that Trump had with Black reporters in Chicago. He attempts to appeal to Black voters, one of the significant constituencies in which Harris has made serious inroads.
Jennings pressed Trump to move on from the controversy, but the former president has continued digging a deeper hole, at one point posting on social media pictures of Harris celebrating her Indian heritage in a misconceived attempt to discredit her.
Campaign Turmoil:
Trump’s campaign had descended into chaos after Harris replaced Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket in the coming election. Keith Gaddie said Trump’s comments were an attempt to get back center stage.
Gaddie, an expert in politics at Texas Christian University, said the president’s fight with African American journalists was intended to show him as a type of “gladiator in the lion’s den” for his white base.
Calls for Decency:
Bill Kristol, former chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle, said Trump had aimed to resurrect old claims that Harris lacked authenticity. “Trump has no sense of decency. It would be nice if this were disqualifying for political success,” Kristol wrote for The Bulwark.
Political Strategy:
According to some analysts, Trump’s comments are just a part of the continuing strategy for exciting his base, in the same way that previous controversial comments toward Mexicans and Muslims did. The flip side is that this alienates swing voters. It certainly did in many of the recent elections.
Trump’s comments were best interpreted more as an example of his lack of self-control and of his narcissism, said political scientist Nicholas Creel of Georgia College and State University, than as a calculated political move.