Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaking on “Real Time with Bill Maher” Photo: YouTube screenshot
In an interview shortly after Donald Trump’s disastrous appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) that saw him accuse Vice President Kamala Harris of not being Black, out Transporation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned that Trump is going to “get crazier” as Harris starts doing better in the polls than him.
At the NABJ, Trump debuted a new line of attack on Harris, claiming that she didn’t identify as Black until recently, even though she never hid her biracial identity throughout her career.
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Trump was asked about Republicans referring to Harris as “a DEI hire.” DEI – or diversity, equity, and inclusion – is a phrase that has been used to diminish the accomplishments of Black people in the past several years.
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Instead of denouncing the racist rhetoric, Trump bickered with ABC’s Rachel Scott over the definition of DEI and then bizarrely said that Harris isn’t really Balck.
“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,” Trump said, “when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. Is she Indian or is she Black?”
Scott pointed out that Harris has always identified as Black, but Trump insisted that “she was Indian all the way and all of a sudden she made a turn and she went, she became a Black person.”
“I think somebody should look into that.”
Trump: I did not 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. Is she Indian or is she Black? pic.twitter.com/DIVy0mQL3I
At a campaign event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania later that day, Trump’s campaign projected an image of a headline referring to Harris as Indian American. Harris’s father is Black and her mother is Indian, and Harris herself is both Indian American and Black.
Buttigieg was on MSNBC last night and said that the Trump campaign is spiraling out of control.
“The more she pulls ahead, the more you’re gonna see, I think, Trump revert to the only thing he knows how to do when he’s trying to get attention, which is to get more and more outrageous,” Buttigieg said. Recent polling shows Harris getting a lead over Trump.
“Remember, for that brief period when it looked like maybe he might have been winning earlier this year, he actually began to show some glimmers of something that might be described as discipline. That collapsed the moment that Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee.”
“We’re seeing it when he has an even mildly skeptical or challenging interview, which is, as we can tell from today’s event, he was not able to handle without just being more insulting and strange than usual,” Buttigieg said, referring to the NABJ appearance.
“Whether it’s a skeptical interview or a friendly interview, he’s just getting further and further, spinning out, flailing,” Buttigieg said.
Buttigieg: “I expect that Trump and his Republican Party will get crazier … the more she pulls ahead, the more you’re going to see I think Trump revert to the only thing he knows how to do when he wants to get attention, which is get more and more outrageous.” pic.twitter.com/m5nC9PpTNC
