Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith ripped former President Trump for his showing at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, calling Trump’s remarks “divisive” in a time when the country needs unity.
“I wasn’t surprised. It was disappointing, but nevertheless far from surprising — very, very predictable anytime … former President Trump gets a tough question. It’s nasty,” Smith said Wednesday on NewsNation’s “CUOMO,” adding later, “Let’s just call it what it is: it’s immature, it’s unpresidential, it’s divisive.”
Trump is under fire after his combative interview with ABC News senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott at the conference, during which the former president questioned Vice President Harris’s racial identity.
Harris became the likely Democratic presidential nominee last month after President Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed her.
When Scott pressed Trump on comments from other Republicans that Harris was a diversity, equity and inclusion hire, he said, “I’ve known her a long time, indirectly. Not directly very much. 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,” the GOP nominee said during the panel interview.
“So, I don’t know — is she Indian, or is she Black?” he added, to which Scott interjected, “She has always identified as a Black woman.”
“But you know what, I respect either one. But she obviously doesn’t. Because she was Indian all the way, then all of a sudden, she made a turn. And she became a Black person,” he replied. “And I think somebody should look into that.”
Smith said the comments exhibit why there are voters opposed to another four years of Trump in the White House.
“It’s the kind of thing … it’s the kind of reasons a lot of us don’t want him to be the next president of the United States, because we know we’re in desperate need in this country, galvanizing and coming together. And he doesn’t seem to be a galvanizing force,” he told host Chris Cuomo on Wednesday evening.
Trump is not going to stray from what he claimed the former president’s base already knows, Smith contended.
“I think it was dog whistling, make no mistake about it, because he wants to cater to his base. He knows they’re not going anywhere. But he wants to show them that he’s still that guy they voted for in 2016 and they voted for in 2020,” he said, adding, “He’s going to be somebody that can be insulting, petulant, immature, and with a penchant if not a proclivity of getting his own way.”
Smith’s comments join the chorus of those slamming Trump’s remarks.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre immediately responded to the comments, describing the 45th president’s answers as “repulsive” and “insulting.”
The Harris campaign called Trump’s appearance Wednesday “a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies this entire campaign.”
“It’s also exactly what the American people will see from across the debate stage as Vice President Harris offers a vision of opportunity and freedom for all Americans,” communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement. “All Donald Trump needs to do is stop playing games and actually show up to the debate on September 10.”
Though some said the event would offer Black journalists the opportunity to grill Trump on how he plans to address the most pressing issues facing Black Americans, others expressed concerns ahead of it.
NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.
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