Throughout his political career, beginning with his first foray as a candidate for the Presidency, Donald Trump has been widely recognized for leveraging racial tension to achieve significant results. This week, the Democrats expressed strong disapproval of the ex-President’s unverified and disparaging remarks towards Vice President Kamala Harris, who has Jamaican and Indian lineage, accusing her of only recently identifying as Black for her political advantage. Surprisingly, some members of the Republican Party, even those associated with Trump’s campaign, have expressed a subtle disapproval of these allegations. Trump’s statement this week, in sync with his past record when it comes to race, suggests that the GOP could potentially adopt these racially-charged strategies in the run-up to the polls, regardless of whether his compatriots endorse it or not.
One of his anonymous advisors posited on Thursday that the Trump campaign doesn’t need to rely on ‘identity politics’. The strategy should primarily be focused on how Harris has an extreme liberal stance which could pose a threat. The advisor’s argument against Harris covered a range of issues such as her stance on the Southern border, crime, economy, and foreign policy. However, Trump, on the same day, seemingly contradicted his own team by further attacking Harris’ racial background. A family photo of Harris in traditional Indian clothing was shared by him on his social media platform.
Many lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican and Trump supporter, voiced out on Thursday that the ongoing discourse on race and identity might not result in any positive outcomes in this election cycle. In an interview, Lummis emphasized that the color of a person’s skin should not be of any relevance. Trump, on the other hand, chose to re-employ an old tactic in his negation of Harris less than a fortnight after President Joe Biden withdrew from his reelection bid and put forth Harris as his endorsement.
In shifting from running a campaign opposed to an 81-year-old man with perceived cognitive decline to now needing to contest against a 59-year-old Black woman, Trump has himself contending with larger assembly crowds and a renewed sense of zeal from Democratic funders. At the convention of the National Association of Black Journalists this Wednesday, Trump implied that Harris has been misleading voters about her ethnicity, a message that was expressed unrestrainedly online and broadcasted live on cable news.
In a public rhetoric, Trump questioned whether Harris identifies as Indian or Black, since he claims that he only became aware of her Black ancestry several years ago when she claimed it. At a subsequent rally in Pennsylvania, Trump’s team exhibited on the arena’s giant screen, news headlines from years past that referred to Harris as the ‘first Indian-American senator’. Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, described Harris as a ‘chameleon’, implying that she switches her identity as per her convenience.
Harris, a graduate of Howard University, a historically Black institution, was also part of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She has frequently emphasized her dual identity as Black and Indian American throughout her career. Team Trump insists that his remarks on race are part of a larger narrative that might resonate with some Black voters, although few of his allies have defended his racially-charged rhetoric this week.
“What enhances our historic gains with Black voters is a comparison of the track records of President Trump and Kamala,” Trump campaign senior adviser Lynne Patton remarked, focusing on issues such as cost of living, border security, illegal immigration and preservation of gender-based spaces. Frank Luntz, an experienced Republican pollster, researched racial politics in a Wednesday focus group with swing voters shortly following Trump’s interview. He noted that while Harris might be susceptible to criticism due to her gender, Trump’s racially-fueled comments could have deleterious effects on his standing with voters in the upcoming elections.
Much has changed since Trump positioned himself as a famous figure by challenging Barack Obama’s citizenship, the first Black president of the nation. Frank Luntz added, observing Trump’s behavior, ‘He assumes he can critique her on how she’s handled her racial identity. However, nobody is attending to that criticism. It simply isn’t relevant. If the underpinning of it is race-based, it will have adverse effects.’
Eugene Craig, the ex-vice chair of the Maryland Republican Party, posited that Trump ‘obtained what he was seeking’ at the NABJ convention, but the core substance of his argument risked appearing more derogatory than persuasive. Craig, an African American who previously assisted conservative commentator Dan Bongino in his 2012 Senate campaign, is currently supporting Harris. ‘The one thing that Black folks will never entertain is any form of disrespect towards being Black – and this holds true for Black Republicans as well,’ emphasizes Craig.
Trump has a consistent history of making racially biased remarks against his opponents since he started his presidential journey nearly a decade ago. He was perhaps the most renowned member of the ‘birther’ movement that questioned Obama’s birthplace. His first campaign commenced with him falsely portraying Mexican immigrants as ‘rapists’ and drug traffickers, and he later on questioned the neutrality of an American judge of Mexican origin.
While he still held the presidency, he endorsed a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and suggested limiting immigration from areas he dubbed ‘shithole countries’ such as Haiti and parts of Africa. In August 2020, Trump insinuated that Harris, who was born in California, might not fulfill the Constitutional criteria for vice-presidential eligibility. Merely two weeks after formally entering the 2024 race, he hosted the infamous white supremacist Nick Fuentes over dinner at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Despite winning the 2016 presidential election, Trump witnessed a defeat in the 2020 election against Biden, losing by narrow margins in many swing states. He still championed the Republican primary in 2024 amidst several criminal charges against him. A section of critics of Trump worry that his strategy based on racial tension could still resonate with a substantial fraction of the electorate. The electors will decide in November whether they want to elect a Black woman as the President for the first time in almost a quarter of a millennia of the nation’s history.
“I hope Trump’s attacks on Harris are simply ineffective flailings. But when you consider Trump’s lack of inhibition, his pathological lying, his populist talent, and the issue of racism — and a measure of complacency among liberals that Trump is simply ludicrous — it leaves me perturbed,” a leading anti-Trump conservative figure, Bill Kristol, posted on social media on Thursday.
A close source to Harris regards this as an opportunity to remind citizens about the pandemonium and discord caused by Trump. The insider, who wished to remain anonymous while discussing internal strategy, said it would be misjudged if the Democrats engaged in Trump’s racially-loaded attacks at the expense of their primary focus on important policies. As long as the campaign doesn’t lose focus, the source expressed that the Harris team doesn’t see much political advantage for Trump to keep attacking Harris’ racial identity.
Harris reiterated to a group of a historically Black sorority earlier this week that Trump’s attacks are nothing more than the repetition of his usual divisive and disrespectful antics. There were some indications on the ground in a few swing states that Trump’s strategy might resonate with his base, particularly among white males. Jim Abel, a 65-year-old retiree who attended a Vance rally in Arizona on Wednesday, concurred with Trump’s remarks on Harris’ racial identity. On the other hand, certain high-profile voices from the Republicans disagreed. Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro shared a picture, which metaphorically presented two options: ‘Attack Kamala’s record, lies, and radicalism,’ and ‘Is she really Black?’. He implied that perhaps focusing on winning the 2024 election is more crucial than engaging in this futile and meaningless conversation.