At Black journalism event, Trump might have been a surprise. He wasn’t
CHICAGO – Former President Donald Trump served it up Wednesday. On the menu: open bullying, verbal assaults, racist tropes, misogyny, disrespect and outright lies.
This time, though, the audience was a room full of mostly Black journalists.
Members of the National Association of Black Journalists, attending their annual convention in Chicago, got all of it – right to the face.
It was a stunning spectacle if you didn’t know what to expect. Unfortunately, we knew.
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From the moment the group announced the event, it faced plenty of criticism from the inside for extending an invitation to the man who has made insulting Black women journalists a signature of his political career.
Lest we forget, in 2018, NABJ itself posted a statement on social media: “NABJ is appalled by Donald Trump’s continued disrespect of African-American women journalists and journalists in general.”
“The most powerful man in the free world is verbally abusing journalists,” said then-NABJ President Sarah Glover. “His dismissive comments toward journalists April Ryan, Abby Phillip and Yamiche Alcindor are appalling, irresponsible, and should be denounced.”
It’s no wonder that some would be puzzled and angry that this same organization would welcome Trump.
Historically, NABJ has invited sitting presidents and presidential candidates to its convention. Historically, it would make sense to have a presidential candidate face a room full of journalists.
But there is more to this history.
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Trump’s hostility toward working media hasn’t ever been a secret.
That he even agreed to attend a convention for journalists is a clear indication he’s on a quest for more Black votes. After all, this was a convention full of the people who cover Black America. Perhaps a campaign guru considered this forum a good idea.
It turned really bad, really fast.
Trump participated in the 35-minute question-and-answer session moderated by ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Fox News’ Harris Faulkner, and Semafor’s Kadia Goba. It was scheduled for an hour, but the start time was delayed for almost an hour and 15 minutes.
Scott kicked things off asking Trump about his laundry list of comments and aggressions against Black journalists, a former Black president and four members of Congress who are Black and brown. She listed his attacks on Black prosecutors – “rabid” and “animals.” She reminded him that he had dined with a white supremacist in his home.
“Why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?” Scott asked.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question … in such a horrible manner, first question,” Trump said.
If somehow you haven’t yet heard how it went from there, you can probably imagine.
On the media: “Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network. A terrible network.”
On the presumptive Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris: “I didn’t know she was Black, until a number of years ago when she ran as Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
Some in the crowd gasped.
Then, as if that wasn’t enough:
“I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden, she made a turn and … she became a Black person,” Trump said.
More gasps.
The vibe among the more than 1,000 journalists in the room ranged from disbelief to disgust. Many left the hotel ballroom shaking their heads.
Many did not want to talk because in this business we have policies that prohibit us from openly commenting about matters of politics. These rules are less stringent for television commentators and opinion journalists like myself.
But I watched as Les Trent, a senior correspondent for Inside Edition, seemed to try to process what he had just heard in real time. I decided to take a shot to see if he would speak with me on the record.
“He came out of the gate attacking the moderator – and he attacked her more than once,” Trent told me about Trump. “It’s difficult because we’re in the business of being objective, but we’re dealing with somebody who has such a demonstrated history of racism that it’s hard to be objective when you’re a person of color. He was just a lose-lose proposition.”
It was so nasty, so racist, so ignorant. But we know that’s how Trump rolls.
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I understand why Trump was invited to NABJ. I also understand why the membership was split on that decision. It hurt me to watch him attack Scott. It angered me to hear his lies about what he’s done for Black people. It disgusted me to listen to him call Harris a convenient Black person.
It was just as I expected it to be. He didn’t even try.
So I’m going to forget Wednesday ever happened.
In a conference full of the people who cover Black America, I’m going to spend the rest of this week learning new skills and sharpening old ones. I’m going to speak on a panel about reporting on child homicides. I’m going to fellowship with my peers, other Black journalists. I’m going to attend a gala where I’m a finalist for an award. And I’m going to enjoy this beautiful city.
What happened on Wednesday happened right to our faces. It would have been stunning, if we didn’t know what to expect.
But we knew.
Suzette Hackney is a national columnist. Reach her on X:@suzyscribe.
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