Ex-Aide Says Trump's NABJ Convention Racism Is About 1 Narcissistic Thing

Former Trump White House communications director Mike Dubke on Thursday put forward an explanation for Donald Trump’s widely condemned antics at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago.

Trump berated the moderators Wednesday night for their lines of questioning and falsely suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris, his likely rival in the 2024 election, had only just started to identify as a Black woman for political reasons. She’d only pushed her Indian heritage before, Trump untruthfully said.

For Dubke, it’s all about Trump “trying to get back into the conversation” following “a week of this Harris mania that’s been going on” after President Joe Biden nixed his reelection campaign and endorsed Harris to replace him.

Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump and Rachel Scott, senior congressional correspondent for ABC News attend a Q&A on the opening day of the National Association of Black Journalists Annual Convention in Chicago on July 31, 2024.

“One of the ways he knows to get back into the conversation is to say things that are going to be picked up on cable news and especially saying things in front of a Black journalist audience that are going to be picked up and make news,” Dubke said on CNN’s “This Morning.”

“So, I think part of this is really getting back in front of the cameras and being relevant to the campaign again after the news media has shifted focus,” added Dubke, who resigned from his White House role in May 2017 after just three months in the job, citing personal reasons.

Trump “had a pretty good month, June, July, and then we had the switch of candidates and he took a back seat,” said Dubke. “Now I think he’s trying to get back into the driver’s seat, driver’s lane.”