Trump’s digs at Kamala’s racial identity could prove damaging

While Donald Trump’s outlandish behavior usually garners free publicity for him in the news, this time, there is a lot on the line. Trump’s Wednesday comments at the National Association for Black Journalists convention have been branded “audacious lie[s],” “outrageous insults,” “overtly racist,” “repulsive” and “insulting.”

“She was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said, in one of the more widely circulated quotes. “I didn’t know she was black until a number of years ago until she happened to turn black, and now she wants to be known as black.”

Race is the last thing GOP political strategists want Trump to mention when it comes to Kamala’s campaign. “Maybe they don’t know how to handle the campaign, and so you default to issues that just should simply not be an issue,” Republican senator Lisa Murkowski told Axios. “That was not a demonstration on how to win over undecided voters,” said another House Republican.

Instead of strategically attacking her border policies or lack of a platform, Trump leaned further into calling Kamala not black. The former president posted a picture of a young Kamala with family members dressed in traditional Indian garb on Truth Social. “Thank you Kamala for the nice picture you sent from many years ago! Your warmth, friendship and love of your Indian Heritage are very much appreciated,” was Trump’s caption. Harris’s mother is Indian and her father is Jamaican. Trump also shared an image from Laura Loomer of Kamala’s birth certificate, which does not say “black” or “African.”

A few hours after this post, however, Trump updated his Truth Social account with two infographics titled “Meet the real Kamala,” listing her total failure as border czar, her support for defunding the police, the fact that she raised money to bail rioters out of jail, her move to shut down the Keystone XL pipeline and being ranked as a more liberal member of the US Senate than Bernie Sanders, among other things.

There are some, including Trump’s vice presidential pick J.D. Vance, who thought Trump’s performance was “hysterical.” But House Speaker Mike Johnson has cautioned conservatives against leveling attacks on Harris related to her race, according to Politico. 

Trump currently holds an average of just above a one-point lead ahead of Harris in a number of polls, but he may be beginning to realize his usual newsworthy behavior won’t win him the election.