# Trump to attend Black journalists' convention **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [July 30, 2024, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016 "2024-07-30T18:06:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/221 "2024-08-01T07:45:07Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > He’s also very aware that there are people that hate him Those are just haters and losers who know He’s the Greatest Person Ever but refuse to admit it because they’re jealous of Him. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/222 "2024-08-01T11:05:42Z")
Apparently he was unaware that they would be fact-checking him during the interview. Probably part of the reason for his whining. > **[Trump falsely accuses Harris of deciding to 'turn Black' during a combative...](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-focuses-harris-race-black-jobs-combative-panel-black-journalists-rcna164271)** > > The event was confrontational from the start as Trump sparred with three moderators from the National Association of Black Journalists. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/223 "2024-08-01T11:33:29Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > It was reported he didn’t know about the Massey woman being shot it the face by LE. > > How could he not be aware of that case? He’s clueless and the event didn’t directly concern or benefit him, so it doesn’t enter his awareness. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > And whoever mentioned _chattel slaves_. I’m pretty sure there were 1000s of African descendant slaves in Jamaica. Sugar plantations, remember those? > Of course she’s black Not my culture or family history so I won’t go into details I’d likely get wrong but some people draw a distinction between those Americans who are descendants of slaves in this country and those who are descendants of people who were not US slaves. This is not, from my observation, anything close to a universal opinion among Black people, whether or not they fall into the category of “descended from slaves”. This came up with Barack Obama as well, being a descendant of a recent African immigrant rather than slaves. People outside of the ethnic and cultural group for whom this is important frequently don’t see it and don’t get it. I don’t have a personal opinion on this except that I acknowledge that the viewpoint exists. > [@split\_p\_j](#): > > I’ve only watched the beginning of the convention interview, but he is clearly trying to hit this point. He is definitely being advised by some in the black community to do this. He’s is saying that she is not “Black” and that resonates with a portion of the black community. I’m not sure a White boy should be attempting to make those sorts of distinctions to a Black audience. There are still times and places when race matters in this country whether or not it should. > [@split\_p\_j](#): > > Barack Obama is not seen that way within the black community. > > White people say he is black because of the one drop rule. > [@Procrustus](#): > > White people say he’s black because he says he’s black. And he is. Actually, Obama is half Black and half White. It’s a legacy of the US-style of slavery and the one-drop rule that there is this notion that one MUST be JUST ONE racial category. Mixed race people people have long been pressured to identify solely with one side of their heritage in this country, and never with the White part of it. The reasons why this is so are probably not on topic here. You could see this with Trump who in that interview keep on and on about how Kamala said she was Indian until “suddenly” she said she was Black. It’s like he can’t understand that she is _both_. She has _always_ been both. Other countries who do not share the same racial hang-ups as the US usually wrap their heads around this much better than the US does. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@split\_p\_j](#): > > > > She is not seen as a Black American descendant of chattel slavery because she’s not. > > Neither is Barack Obama. Doesn’t make him not black First of all, Jamaica had chattel slavery every bit as brutal and dehumanizing as that in the United States. Maybe splitting those hairs matters to some, but if we’re talking about “descent from chattel slaves” then Kamala qualifies. Now, the social structure of Jamaica post-slavery was and is different than that of the US and maybe there’s a context where that makes a difference, I wouldn’t know, but anyone asserting that there weren’t chattel slaves in Harris’ ancestry is ignorant of even superficial knowledge of Jamaican history. With Mr. Obama there is a distinction that I think is sometimes lost on us White folk who, when asked about our ancestry, can provide some detail. I don’t refer to myself as “European-American”, I can say my paternal grandparents were Russian Jews, Jewish subtype Ashkenazi, and my maternal grandfather came from Germany, and my maternal grandmother was a descendant of Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Hunger/Potato Famine in the mid 1800’s. Meanwhile, when growing up if I asked some of my Black classmates where in the world their ancestors came from the answer was a very non-specific “Africa”. Where in Africa? What nations or languages? No one knew, that information was deliberately destroyed. Some were lighter-skinned and might have known they has Irish or English ancestry… but usually unspoken, but known (certainly known to adults), was that that heritage was the result of a master raping one of their female ancestors. Now, I don’t know what to tell you if you can’t see the distinction there, but it makes a mystery of a family’s past with a dollop of sexual violence on top. Mr. Obama, however, does not share that cultural amputation - he can say he is “Kenyan-American”, he knows exactly where his father came from, he knows the particular ethnic group his father is from, he has been back to visit his African family, and his family wound up in America not via kidnapping but by his father choosing to pursue education here. In that, Obama is closer to a White American of European descent than the millions of people who history was ripped from their ancestors. Sure, Obama has faced the racist disadvantages a dark skin gets you in the US but his family’s experience isn’t necessarily typical of that of most people viewed as Black in the US. Is that a distinction worth making? Apparently to some people. Almost certainly in some contexts. > [@split\_p\_j](#): > > I wouldn’t say most descendants are mixed, but things are judged on white perception of the black phenotype. ^ This. For 500 years White people in power in North America have been making the decisions on who is and isn’t this or that racial group. > [@Procrustus](#): > > Aren’t there Jamaican descendants of chattle slavery? Yes, but the presence and role of free Black people in Jamaican society even while there was chattel slavery, when and how slavery ended in Jamaica, and the society that grew out of those changes were significantly different than what happened in the US. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > You must know quite different white people than this white person does. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > Certain concepts related to race can be complex and confusing. But in my 63 years I’ve never heard a person of any hue advocate for the “one drop rule.” Hell, I’m trying to think of when I ever heard it mentioned other than in a production of “Show Boat” I saw decades ago. I can say the same - I know different White people than you do. While far from universal there are some very racist White folks who still very much subscribe to the one drop rule. [We have even had a discussion about White men who wouldn’t date or associate with a White woman who had ever dated, much less had a more involved relationship, with a Black man in the past here on the Dope.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-woman-has-a-past-relationship-with-a-black-man-shes-tainted-forever-why/662743). The person who made post #160 in that thread was pretty clear on his views. That was a mere 10 years ago. Apparently the “one drop” he objected to wasn’t _blood_ but other bodily fluid(s). Well, the US is a country of 330 million people spread over most of a continent, I would expect there to be different sorts and different experiences. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/224 "2024-08-01T11:35:53Z")
Trump’s handlers _pulled him off the stage_ thirty minutes (or so) early. They wouldn’t have done that if he was doing what they planned for him to do. The suggestion that this is part of a plan is just ridiculous – it’s exactly what it looks like; a racist old man flailing. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/225 "2024-08-01T11:47:48Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > The suggestion that this is part of a plan is just ridiculous – it’s exactly what it looks like; a racist old man flailing. Granted, it may have been a _bad_ plan. Counterprogramming isn’t some kind of arcane art, it’s just doing a big event to take some press from your opponent. But if your appearance gets you so much bad press that it offsets the benefit of stealing attention, then it’s a pretty dumb plan. Trump provided at least 10 clippable moments that I could count of him saying the dumbest, most hamfisted lines, just handing enough free oppo research to the Harris campaign to last at least 4 weeks. So yeah, maybe he had a strategy in mind, but we don’t have to hand it to him for being a strategic thinker. He’s doing the same dumb stuff he always has, and it’s not working anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/226 "2024-08-01T11:53:23Z")
So how does any of this rise to the level of impact of Hallary’s “deplorables” comment? I’ve gotta figure, “She became black” (or whatever exactly he said) oughta have legs! ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/227 "2024-08-01T11:56:14Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > What difference does it make about being the descendant of a slave? If someone from Nigeria say came here today, do you not think shopkeepers would single him out for attention as he browses the shelves? Do you not think police would be more apt to shoot him than they would a white person? You don’t have to be descended from slaves to suffer from racism. There are, believe it or not, people alive today who make a big deal about who one’s ancestors were. They would happily play up having a king or queen in their distant past, or even just an earl. They would feel shame if an ancestor was a thief or murderer and try to hide that from the world. Absolutely they would hold a slave in someone’s past against them. Regrettably, I do have regular contact with bigots and I recall one of them saying they found Obama acceptable because he did _not_ have slaves in his family tree but “respectable” people. I didn’t ask for further elaboration on that statement. Absolutely anyone dark skinned in the US is vulnerable to racism, but it’s not just about that. Chattel slavery had extensive cultural effects on African-Americans who are the descendants of slaves. > [@split\_p\_j](#): > > It’s because Trump is consistently trying to hit this point. It’s why he said black jobs at the debate and keeps comparing himself to Lincoln. Lincoln might have signed the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves but by today’s standards he was quite racist even if in his own time he might have been seen as a enlightened. I’m not sure that comparing himself to Lincoln is a winning strategy in 2024. > [@split\_p\_j](#): > > It’s not desperation though, it’s a calculated strategy. You can dismiss me all you want, but this election is going to be won on the margins. It’s going to come down to thousands of votes in a few states. He has his base in the bag, swinging the Black American vote, even only a few percent, could be the key to him winning. ^ This. Trump doesn’t have to win the majority of the Black vote, he just has to peel away votes from Kamala Harris. > [@Odesio](#): > > If anything, I think Trump just did a lot of damage to his campaign. Well, some of us are hoping that but until November we won’t know for sure, will we? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/228 "2024-08-01T12:01:51Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > No, he was definitely going for a “Gotcha” on that one. He’s seen or heard about people on his side being publicly embarrassed by being asked to [define terms they use, like “woke”](https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/03/19/woke-debate-conservative-author-struggles-to-define-ip-sot-vpx.cnn), and being completely unable to do that. He thought he could turn the tables on them using the same strategy, but was utterly unaware that some people actually can define the words they use without going into brain lock. The irony is that it’s Republicans who are accusing Harris of being a DEI hire. If anyone should be forced to define the term, it’s the people who originally used it, not the journalists asking Trump if he agrees with them. In that sense, Trump’s misdirection worked; he shifted the conversation away from what he believes to something else. It is, probably, a good thing that the journalists on stage were asked to define “DEI”, rather than the people who use “DEI hire” as a perjorative. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/229 "2024-08-01T12:03:38Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Trump’s handlers _pulled him off the stage_ thirty minutes (or so) early No doubt to a round of "atta-boy"s and high-fives. They probably told him he nailed it early and there was no reason to continue on. Now he can say “the blacks are now totally behind me!” thanks to this appearence. He’ll never admit he was wrong, about anything, and just claim total victory. Such is the delusion. It pleases the ear to hear audience members laughing at him a jeering while he is maundering on stuff he is stupidly ignorant about. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/230 "2024-08-01T12:17:51Z")
I wouldn’t expect Kamala to do it, but someone could recount her upbringing, comparing it to Klan Dad teaching his son about discriminating against persons of color. He was a racist asshole right out of the gate! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/231 "2024-08-01T12:23:04Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Oh I’m sure he _has_, particularly before being nominated in 2016. But it has probably been a while, and he might think that at this point he has achieved a status where he doesn’t have to ever face a crowd that isn’t ecstatic to see him. Or that _wouldn’t dare_ be openly hostile to him to his face. _That_ is the thing that he has trouble with, a room where people _don’t care if they “lose access”_ by pushing back or calling him out. “What disrespect, never seen so much disrespect” is going to be his takeaway. He feels the _world_ is required to be all “oh, Mr. President” at him and just let him ramble on, note how he is even with _friendly_ media figures who are trying to redirect to stop him from looking worse, he just barges right ahead. Remember his demeanor in the NY court room where he was forced to just sit there, shut up and take it. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/232 "2024-08-01T12:24:16Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > He’s doing the same dumb stuff he always has, and it’s not working anymore. On reddit, someone mentioned how he got off to a good start with the Birther nonsense, and so he’s playing the same cards again. I opined that it was like a guy who won big the first time he played poker by drawing to an inside straight. Now, he keeps trying to draw to that same inside straight, and can’t figure out why he keeps losing. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/233 "2024-08-01T12:50:54Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Please respect this directive by not engaging further on the points they have made. Thanks. Yikes–I missed your note to them. Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/234 "2024-08-01T13:09:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I did once know a white fellow from South Africa who did call himself African-American, for that reason. Then again, that guy was just plain insane, so probably not the best example. ISTR Charlize Theron, who is presumably not insane, having difficulty with that particular question on the US Census. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/235 "2024-08-01T13:27:33Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > ISTR Charlize Theron, who is presumably not insane, having difficulty with that particular question on the US Census Then I’m going to question the “presumably not insane” bit. As a teenager, in Pakistan in the 1980s, I bet if you asked my classmates to interpret that question, very few would be confused. And these are kids who had very little exposure to western media beyond BBC World Service on short wave radio, and almost none of whom had ever been to the United States even on vacation. I don’t know if she was trying to be cute or disingenuous, but presumably she’s not that dumb. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/236 "2024-08-01T13:32:51Z")
Hoo boy. I’m amazed at how I can still be surprised how awful trump can be. And trump’s handlers letting him try to deliver the idea that Harris is not ‘Black enough’, if that’s what was happening, is a stupid miscalculation on their part. Not that tactics like that can’t work-- Karl Rove was the evil genius behind George W. Bush and other Repubs, who was successful at attacking opponents on their strengths (Swift Boat Veterans Against Kerry). But Rove created ‘whisper campaigns’ behind the scenes to do his dirty work-- he’d never let W, who never met a sentence he couldn’t mangle, attempt that sort of thing. Those kinds of calculated wedge issue tactics require a certain rhetorical skill and subtlety. Using trump to try to deliver that kind of message is like using a meat cleaver to try to perform an appendectomy. And trump’s overt, gratuitous hostility was astounding. I didn’t see those panelists being hostile to trump, as he claimed, at all-- they were simply asking pointed, relevant questions of a Presidential candidate…like, the way journalists are _supposed_ to do. Interesting analysis on [cnn.com](http://cnn.com) this morning contemplating how the media should cover his rhetoric. The conclusion was that it shouldn’t be covered, to deprive him of media ‘oxygen’, and that having trump at the NABJ conference was a mistake. But I don’t know if I agree with that. I think trumpster fires like this should be highlighted. People need to be reminded, over and over, just how horrible he really is. The voters who love the bombastic nature of these tantrums were already going to vote for him anyway. > **[Trump’s hostility to Black journalists renews questions over how news media...](https://www.cnn.com/trump-nabj-convention-journalists-media-questions/index.html)** > > Donald Trump on Wednesday took the stage before a divided National Association of Black Journalists conference. And, within moments of the event getting underway, it was clear where the event was headed. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/237 "2024-08-01T13:36:59Z")
I bit the bullet and read his X posts since then. He’s proudly claiming that he “crushed it.” ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/238 "2024-08-01T13:40:57Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > WTF did Trump think was going to happen? Well, over on Breitbart they’re saying he schooled them. Remember, we live in a world where people can and do find someplace online that validates their views. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/239 "2024-08-01T13:47:17Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > I don’t know if she was trying to be cute or disingenuous, but presumably she’s not that dumb. I’m guessing as a white South African, she doesn’t want people to think she’s trying to be “clever” by calling herself African-American. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016/240 "2024-08-01T13:57:08Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > Well, over on Breitbart they’re saying he schooled them. > > Remember, we live in a world where people can and do find someplace online that validates their views. Maybe that’s true, but does it matter? The Breitbart audience was always going for Trump, and that voter pool isn’t getting any larger. It’s very much possible trump was thinking that he’ll counterprogram Harris by giving the base some red meat to chew on. But what a dumb strategy. He’s not reaching new voters, and providing mountains of ammo to be used against him with swing voters. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-to-attend-black-journalists-convention/1005016.md?page=13)