Amid outcry over the fact that he was even invited to attend, Donald Trump appeared at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) annual convention in Chicago on Wednesday.
He sat for an interview with black journalists who wasted no time throwing contentious questions his way. The result was a fiery back and forth that has made headlines on several fronts, including whether Vice President Kamala Harris – who did not attend the conference due to what her campaign called scheduling conflicts – has been misleading voters about her heritage.
On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk to discuss Trump’s decision to attend the event and the controversial moments from his appearance.
The Event
At the NABJ convention on Wednesday, Trump appeared before the largely black audience for a 34-minute sit-down with a panel of black female journalists from various news outlets, including ABC News senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, and Semafor political reporter Kadia Goba.
Megyn likened it to going into the “lion’s den,” while Kirk acknowledged it was “a risk” for Trump to attend. “President Trump did that because he has a heart for the black community and because he is so tired of being criticized by the media for being racist,” he noted. “I thought he handled everything really, really well and him going into that environment was a forceful message that this campaign is going to play to win.”
How It Started
The interview got off to a rocky start when Scott skipped the pleasantries in favor of an accusatory question about why black voters should “trust” Trump. “Scott decides to open up the event with the nastiest question she could dream up,” Megyn said. “And I will just tell you, as a journalist who has asked Trump very hard questions, I thought this was grossly inappropriate.”
Here’s how the exchange went:
SCOTT: A lot of people did not think it was appropriate for you to be here today. You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals, from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama, saying that they weren’t born in the United States, which is not true. You have told four congresswomen of color, who were American citizens, to go back to where they came from. You have used words like ‘animal’ and ‘rabid’ to describe black district attorneys. You’ve attacked black journalists, calling them ‘a loser,’ saying the questions that they asked are, quote, ‘stupid and racist.’ You’ve had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar a Lago resort. So my question, sir, now that you were asking black supporters to vote for you: Why should black voters trust you after you have used language like that?
TRUMP: Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question so– in such a horrible manner, first question. You don’t even say hello, how are you? Are you with ABC because I think they’re terrible by the way? And I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirit. I love the black population of this country. I’ve done so much for the black population of this country… I think it’s a very rude introduction… I was told my opponent was going to be here. It turned out my opponent isn’t here. You invited me under false pretense, and then you are half an hour late. Just so we understand, I have too much respect for you to be late. They couldn’t get their equipment working or something–
SCOTT: Mr. President, I would love if you could answer the question–
TRUMP: I think it’s a very nasty question. I have answered the question. I have been the best president for the black population since Abraham Lincoln. That’s my answer.
In Megyn’s view, Scott handled the question all wrong. “That is not how you begin an interview. He does not, unlike a presidential debate, have to be there,” she explained. “She can ask some tough questions, but there should be a crescendo and decrescendo. And by the way, the question should be fact-based and she put a lot of non-facts in her question as though they were true.”
So while Megyn said she likes “tough questions as a general principle,” she has “a problem” with what Scott did. “She could have changed it with a tonal shift. She could have built up there and said, ‘Mr. Trump, as you know, there was a controversy over your appearance here today. Let me ask you the question about some of the facts that led to that controversy. This is why some people objected. They say the following,’” Megyn suggested. “He would have been fine with that… and answered it substantively. But she set herself up for failure. What she wanted was clicks on the internet and applause from her fellow liberal journalists.”
DEI Dilemma
Perhaps the most controversial moment of the day came when Scott asked Trump if he would disavow those who refer to Harris as a diversity hire.
SCOTT: Some of your own supporters, including Republicans on Capitol Hill, have labeled Vice President Kamala Harris, who was the first black and Asian American woman to serve as vice president on a major party ticket, as a DEI hire. Is that acceptable language to you? And will you tell those Republicans and those supporters to stop it?
That led to a dramatic back and forth in which Trump asked Scott how she “defines” DEI before raising his own question about Harris’ identity.
TRUMP: …I think it’s maybe a little bit different. So I’ve known her a long time indirectly –not directly very much – and 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. So, I don’t know? Is she Indian or is she black? I respect either one. 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. I think somebody should look into that too…
As Megyn noted, the left and media is “having a meltdown” over the remark. But Kirk thinks Trump was trying to set up a larger narrative. “What Trump decided to do – it’s going to be difficult to pull off, but I think he could do it – is [build upon] a narrative that people already have a Kamala Harris that she is fake, that she is inauthentic, that she is artificial, that she is synthetic from her policy positions from her entire career. She is not who she says she is,” he explained.
While Kirk thinks it has the potential to be “a very effective tactic,” he said it is not without risk. “It’s dangerous because you’re involving race and that is very difficult terrain to navigate,” he admitted. “If anyone can do it, President Trump can for no other reason than just through brute force he has the ability to kind of just power through it.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Kirk by tuning in to episode 854 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.