Opinion

Trump Goes on Truly Deranged Rant About “Black Jobs” as Crowd Boos Him

Hafiz Rashid
Wed, July 31, 2024

NEW REPUBLIC

Donald Trump addressed a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists Wednesday where he was asked to explain his earlier words about “Black jobs.” His answer didn’t clear anything up.

Trump was initially asked by Fox News’s Harris Faulkner, who sat on the panel along with Rachel Scott of ABC News and Kadia Goba of Semafor, what his message was at the event. He began by talking about the so-called crisis at the U.S. southern border.

“A lot of the journalists in this room I know and I have great respect for, a lot of the journalists in this room are Black,” Trump said, drawing laughter from the audience. “I will tell you that coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking Black jobs.”

“What exactly is a Black job, sir?” Scott asked him.

“A Black job is anybody that has a job. That’s what it is. Anybody that has a job,” Trump said to more laughter from the audience. “They’re taking the employment away from Black people.”

Trump initially used the phrase during the first presidential debate in June and was heavily criticized, with many people asking what a “Black job” is and what he meant. Several Black politicians posted on social media at the time highlighting their work.

Given an opportunity by Black journalists with a largely Black audience Wednesday, Trump didn’t clarify anything. His campaign has made repeated efforts to draw in Black voters, only for those efforts to seemingly fail “bigly,” according to recent polls. This is partly because Trump’s campaign has also included some not-so-subtle racist messages, including his vow to fight “anti-white” racism, his pledge to “indemnify all police officers and law enforcement officials” if he’s reelected, his attacks on Black prosecutors, and his defense of “very fine” neo-Nazis.

Even before he entered politics, Trump didn’t have a good record on race. He and his father were sued for housing discrimination back in the 1970s, and while he hosted NBC’s The Apprentice, he allegedly dropped the n-word and refused to hire Kwame Jackson, the Black finalist on the show’s first season. However Trump’s appearance at the NABJ’s convention Wednesday was going to go, it could never have erased his racist past.