Trump’s comments saying Native Americans ‘don’t look like Indians’ resurface after remarks about Harris’ heritage

Amelia Neath
Updated Thu, August 1, 2024

Footage of Donald Trump complaining that Native American casino operators “don’t look like Indians to me” has resurfaced in the wake of his shocking comments where he questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’ heritage.

Back in October 1993, Trump spoke at a congressional hearing about the opening of Native American-owned casinos, which would have competed with his own casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The then-businessman had sued the government claiming that Native American casinos had an unfair advantage because, under federal law, they did not pay taxes on casinos on Native American land.

During the hearing, Trump got into a heated exchange with Democratic congressman George Miller where he claimed that many Native American casino owners “don’t look like Indians.”

“Is this you, discussing Indian blood: ‘We’re going to judge people by whether they have Indian blood whether they’re qualified to run a casino or not?’” Miller asked.

Trump responded: “That probably is me, absolutely. Because I’ll tell you what. If you look at some of the reservations that you’ve approved – that you, sir, in your great wisdom have approved – I will tell you right now, they don’t look like Indians to me,” Trump replied.

Trump appears at a congressional hearing in 1993 over a casino dispute, where he claimed that Native American casino owners ‘don’t look like Indians to me’ (MSNBC)

“And they don’t look like the Indians. Now, maybe we say politically correct or not politically correct, they don’t look like Indians to me, and they don’t look like Indians to Indians,” he added.

Miller fired back at Trump, saying: “Thank God that’s not the test of whether or not people have rights in this country or not – whether or not they pass your ‘look’ test.

“Mr Trump, do you know, do you know in the history of this country where we’ve heard this discussion before? ‘They don’t look Jewish to me. They don’t look Indian to me. They don’t look Italian to me.’ And that was the test for whether people could go into business, or not go into business. Whether they could get a bank loan. ‘You’re too Black, you’re not Black enough.’”

The clip initially resurfaced in 2016 when Trump began referring to Senator Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas” after she revealed she has Native American ancestry.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks on a panel of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago (Reuters)

The video has emerged on social media again this week, first shared by Republicans Against Trump, after Trump stunningly questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’ ethnicity and claimed she “happened to turn Black” recently.

In the interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference on Wednesday, Trump said: “I didn’t know she was Black.

“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, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way, and all of a sudden she made a turn, and she became a Black person.”

Harris’ campaign clapped back at the remarks, saying that Trump’s “tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies this entire campaign.”

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Starmer blames far-Right for Southport riots

Charles Hymas

Thu, August 1, 2024 at 2:49 PM MDT·34 min read

Sir Keir Starmer has blamed the far-Right for the violent protests that have broken out across the country following the Southport stabbings.

The Prime Minister said that he would “not permit, under any circumstances, a breakdown in law and order on our streets” amid warnings that the country faces a summer of riots.

It follows disorder in Southport, London and Hartlepool in the wake of the killing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on Monday.

On Thursday, the 17-year-old accused of murder was named as Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, who was born to Rwandan parents in Cardiff before moving to Banks, in Lancashire.

The protests had been fuelled by speculation online about the attacker and his motives, including inaccurate claims that he was an asylum seeker.

Police are understood to have intelligence that the far-Right and unaligned hooligans intent on violence were planning to stir up more public disorder, including at the weekend and for most of the summer.

Hartlepool was among the towns to see rioting this summer - BACKGRID UK

Announcing a new violent disorder unit at a press conference in Downing Street, the Prime Minister said the Government would ensure the threat was met with “the most robust response in the coming days and weeks”.

Asked whether the country faced a summer of riots, he said: “It’s obvious to me, and I think anybody looking in, that as far as the far-Right is concerned this is coordinated. This is deliberate. This is not a protest that has got out of hand. It is a group of individuals who are absolutely bent on violence.

“I’ve just held a meeting with senior police and law enforcement leaders, where we resolved to show we are a country that will not allow understandable fear to curdle into division and hate in our communities, and that will not permit – under any circumstances – a breakdown in law and order on our streets.

“Because let’s be very clear about this – it’s not protest, it’s not legitimate. It’s crime, violent disorder, an assault on the rule of law and the execution of justice. And so on behalf of the British people who expect their values and their security to be upheld, we will put a stop to it.”

A police source said: “We have intelligence that they are planning to do more, for this weekend and for most of the summer. It is coordinated. It is not spontaneous at all. Some are EDL, some are more extreme far-Right. Then you have a cohort of people who are just obsessed with violence.”

Far-Right protests extended to the capital - Heathcliff O'Malley for the Telegraph

The new national violent disorder unit was agreed after a Downing Street summit with police chiefs and ministers. The unit will enable all 43 police forces across England and Wales to better share intelligence on potential protest hotspots so extra officers specially trained in public order can be dispatched to those areas.

British Transport Police (BTP) will monitor passenger flows to identify unusual surges in travellers with information gathered used as an early warning sign for forces to prepare for any influx of potentially violent protesters.

Mobile facial recognition cameras, which are currently only used in London and by a handful of other forces, will be deployed at protests to identify troublemakers who may be wanted for other offences or have previous convictions.

Travel bans

Police forces are to be issued with new guidance, specifically on violent disorder, which will advise them to use criminal behaviour orders on protesters convicted of disorder. These can impose travel bans with breaches carrying a penalty of up to five years in jail. They may be applied retrospectively to those already convicted.

The guidance will set out officers’ current powers and range of public order offences that can be used to arrest and prosecute troublemakers including protesters who use masks to hide their identities.

Officers will be deployed at stations to exploit railway bylaws that will enable them to stop anyone suspected of being drunk or disruptive from travelling to a protest.

Sir Keir said: “These thugs are mobile, they move from community to community. We must have a policing response that can do the same.”

Nearly all of the 16 people so far arrested for disorder at the protests in Southport and Hartlepool are from the local or nearby areas, despite claims that many of the demonstrators were outsiders.

One of those arrested in Hartlepool was an 11-year-old boy, it emerged late on Thursday. The child was arrested on suspicion of arson after a police vehicle was set alight on Wednesday.

Police believe they have enough officers trained in public order and with sufficient powers but do not have the coordinated intelligence picture to deploy them at hot spots.

“We have to wean ourselves off the idea that the only response is to pass more legislation every time we have a challenge in front of us,” said Sir Keir. “It is about using the existing powers that we’ve got, pulling together intelligence, the data, making sure that that is being shared across police forces.”

The Prime Minister also warned social media companies to take action following the sharing of misinformation about the Southport suspect. Tech firms are expected to take down any illegal content.

“Let me also say to large social media companies and those who run them: violent disorder, clearly whipped up online, that is also a crime, it’s happening on your premises, and the law must be upheld everywhere,” he said.

The need to counter this type of speculation was cited in the decision to name the suspect a week before his 18th birthday.

Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 17, has been named as the suspect in the Southport murder case

Judge Andrew Menary KC, the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool, said he had to balance risk to the suspect’s family and initial risk to him while in custody with the public interest in accurately reporting his identity to quell misinformation that has been fuelling disorder.

He said: ‘By continuing to prevent full reporting at this stage has the disadvantage of allowing others who are up to mischief to continue to spread misinformation in a vacuum and runs the risk that when the information becomes publicly available in six days’ time, that will provide an additional excuse for a fresh round of public disorder.