Trump attack on Harris’s race frustrates and panics Republicans

Former President Donald Trump is under pressure for his latest line of attack on Vice President Kamala Harris, questioning her racial identity.

Trump spoke at the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual conference Wednesday in Chicago, where he got into a tense exchange with several black journalists. At one part of the exchange, Trump implicitly accused Harris of being a fraud, claiming that she shifted between stressing her Indian and Jamaican racial identities.

“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,” Trump said. “I didn’t know she was black, until a number of years ago when she ran (as) 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, 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,” he added, to disapproval from the crowd.

The remark caused many Republicans to panic, who have treated Harris’s race as a political third rail.

Republicans immediately started hitting the panic button, with some down-ballot candidates taking Trump’s statements on more directly than others.

The most readily vocal was former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a frequent critic of Trump.

“It’s unacceptable and abhorrent to attack Vice President Harris or anyone’s racial identity,” he posted on X. “The American people deserve better.”

Another Republican quick to the trigger was Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), a noted critic of Trump.

“Maybe they don’t know how to handle the campaign, and so you default to issues that just should simply not be an issue,” she told Axios.

“I don’t think it was helpful,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) told reporters.

Most elected Republicans remained anonymous but were liberal in their criticism, speaking with Axios.

“It was awful,” an anonymous House Republican told the outlet. “The entire exchange was embarrassing.”

“That was not a demonstration on how to win over undecided voters,” another House Republican said.

“To be focusing on anyone’s race or gender when there are plenty of things to talk about on the issues that voters actually care about is frustrating for a lot of us,” a third added.

Republicans who did speak on the record were more reserved but still implicitly critical, attempting to direct Trump away from comments about Harris’s identity.

“It’s not a great idea for either of the parties to be playing racial identity politics, whether it’s ‘white dudes for Kamala’ or whatever this is,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said. “We should spend less time talking about race and more time talking about how we’re going to get people to work.”

“I think the most important thing we can talk about is the policies and statements she’s made,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), the chairman of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, said of Harris. “They’re just very radical.”

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), a major Trump ally, remained neutral.

“I ain’t getting involved in that,” he told HuffPo. “Let him talk about what he wants to talk about. I’m talking about how bad our country is in shape right now because of her.”