New Delhi:
Now that the American presidential elections are in their final phase, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are doing everything they can to win over voters. As Harris tries to address her past as a prosecutor and how she will charge the ex-president for crimes he is being tried for, Trump has questioned the vice president’s racial identity.
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, has launched a racially insensitive attack on Kamala Harris by questioning whether she is “Indian or Black.”
“I’ve known her for a long time, indirectly, not very much directly, and she was always of Indian descent, and she just promoted Indian descent,” Trump said at the National Association of Black Journalists meeting in Chicago.
“I didn’t know she was black until several years ago when she happened to become black, and now she wants to be known as black,” he added.
Despite the comments spiraling into a huge controversy, the 78-year-old made the move, sharing a photo on social media showing Kamala Harris’ “Indian heritage.”
“Thank you Kamala for the beautiful photo you sent us many years ago! Your warmth, friendship and love for your Indian heritage are deeply appreciated,” Trump said while sharing the photo on Truth Social.
Trump has a history of attacking his opponents based on race. He falsely accused Barack Obama, the country’s first black president, of not being born in the US.
Trump attacked former U.N. ambassador and his Republican primary opponent Nikki Haley by falsely claiming she could not become president because her parents were not U.S. citizens when she was born.
And now, Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was Indian and her father, Donald Jasper Harris, is Jamaican; both emigrated to the US.
She is seeking to become the first Black woman and Asian American president in U.S. history, and her participation in the 2024 election has sparked a wave of enthusiasm for her candidacy among Black voters and young people — groups Trump has sought to broaden his appeal to. enlarge. .
Trump’s controversial comments come as the race for the November 5 presidential election heats up. Opinion polls showed that Vice President Harris, abruptly thrust into the role of presidential candidate less than ten days ago, has narrowed the gap with her Republican rival.
Harris later condemned Trump’s comments Wednesday as “the same old show” of “divisiveness” and “disrespect.”
“Let me say: the American people deserve better. The American people deserve better than that,” Harris said during a speech at a historically black student body in Houston.
A July Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday showed Harris erasing the lead Trump enjoyed in seven states likely to determine the election, leaving the former president leading 48% to 47% — a statistical tie . The survey also found that Harris enjoyed the support of 75% of black voters in those states, compared to 19% for Trump.
