Tipsheet

Trump Attended the National Association of Black Journalists Conference and Hoo Boy

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  July 31, 2024 9:00 PM

Former President Donald Trump returned to his vintage, hilarious persona, attending the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago, which triggered members of this organization. Karen Attiah, an editor and columnist for The Washington Post and co-chair of the NABJ convention, resigned in protest. It got off to a rocky start, but the question was ridiculous, one of many hurled at the former president by ABC News’ Rachel Scott.

There was a bit of fake news before this event, where people were saying that Trump was holding up the event, which started an hour late, due to not wanting to be fact-checked live; the truth was there was difficulty in setting up the audio equipment. 

Scott asked about the attack on Harris, referring specifically to the DEI hire narrative. It was an outrageous question that didn’t faze the former president, who knew exactly what would be thrown at him. First, while I don’t like the attack either since I think it animates liberals, I wish someone would repeat Biden’s words from 2020, where he admits he picked Kamala because she was black. Trump also faced questions about his attack on black district attorneys who have led our cities to become crime-ridden hellholes. 

It was a little speedbump at the start, but the former president did well conveying his points for the rest of the event, where Kamala Harris didn’t even show up. One of the best lines was Trump saying that Harris was Indian and then became black, which drew laughter from the audience. Laughing at Trump or with him—who cares; it was hilarious. A nice undershot at a woman with a penchant for saying anything to get elected, who has no principles, core, or the experience to occupy the highest office in the land.

Here's more on the black journalists’ civil war that erupted from today’s event (via Axios):

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The group has a history of inviting presidential candidates to its annual conference, but Trump's participation is causing a rift between members. 

President Biden addressed a virtual conference between the NABJ and NAHJ in 2020. 

Hillary Clinton spoke at a joint conference between the NABJ and the National Association for Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) in 2016. 

Former President Obama spoke at a Unity conference amongst four journalism diversity groups, including NABJ, in 2008. 

Catch up quick: NABJ announced Trump's participation at the conference Monday evening, drawing swift pushback from NABJ members and journalists broadly. 

Trump will be interviewed on Wednesday at noon CST by a panel of Black journalists, including ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott, Fox News host Harris Faulkner and Semafor reporter Kadia Goba. 

The focus of the discussion is on the most "pressing issues facing the black community," per NABJ. 

[…] 

NABJ President Ken Lemon told Axios the organization put out the call months ago to "both candidates and one candidate responded." 

"There was a point when we were certain Biden and Trump were both going to say yes," he said, noting that Biden dropped out. The organization has been in contact with the Harris camp over the past nine days, but they did not have a commitment as of Tuesday. 

Of course, we’ll see how the media covers this event, and we’re already off to a banner start from The Hill: 

Former President Trump on Wednesday clashed with an ABC News correspondent at a convention of Black journalists, slamming her “disgraceful” questioning after she asked why Black voters should trust him with another term. 

ABC News’s Rachel Scott opened a question-and-answer session with Trump by citing his past comments spreading the birther conspiracy about former President Obama, his call for certain Democratic lawmakers to “go back” to countries they came from and his meeting with a white supremacist at Mar-a-Lago. 

“I’ll tell what it is not: It’s not surprising…This is who Donald Trump is. This is the politics of insult, of revenge and resentment and retribution,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), who the publication quoted in response to this event. Mr. Warnock, you’ve described your party, sir. 

The DEI remarks are going to be weaponized at some point, but only white liberals will see this as some self-immolation moment.

UPDATE: "Crushed it."