President Donald Trump’s stunning decision on Wednesday to question Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial and ethnic identity and berate Black journalists during a convention of Black journalists has brought Republicans right back to a familiar — and uncomfortable — place.
Senate Republicans immediately shifted back to 2016 campaign mode for dealing with Trump’s racist or inflammatory comments — deny, defer and depart as quickly as possible.
Trump also suggested that Harris, who was elected three times to statewide office in California, was a “DEI hire” — language that Speaker Mike Johnson and NRCC Chair Richard Hudson urged their rank-and-file colleagues to avoid.
At a sorority event in Houston on Wednesday night, Harris dismissed Trump’s remarks as grounded in “divisiveness” and “disrespect.”
“The American people deserve better,” Harris said. “The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth. A leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. We deserve a leader who understands our differences do not divide us. They are an essential source of our strength.”
Yet the Trump campaign continued to launch similar attacks throughout Wednesday night. At a Harrisburg, Pa., rally, Trump’s campaign projected a story from Business Insider that celebrated Harris as being the first Indian-American senator. Harris identifies as both Indian and Black.
Several rally speakers also mispronounced Harris’ first name, a frequent pattern for GOP pols. Trump himself, however, didn’t repeat his earlier remarks. On Tuesday, Trump claimed Harris “doesn’t like Jewish people” despite the fact that her husband is Jewish.
Some of the few Senate Republicans who did acknowledge they were aware of Trump’s NABJ remarks downplayed them, suggesting Trump was being sarcastic.
A couple of Republicans lightly criticized Trump, knowing that nothing infuriates the former president and his allies as much as criticism from within the party. Only one Senate GOP hopeful — former Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan, who is running for Senate against a Black woman candidate in a blue state — condemned Trump’s remarks.
“The president speaks for himself,” Senate Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso repeated five different times. “I’m going to continue to talk about her record, and I think her record helps Republicans win.”
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) was even more succinct: “Focus on policy… All we’ve got to do is focus on policy… Focus on policy… Focus on policy… Focus on policy. That’s what the American people want and where we win… We should be focusing on policy… Focus on policy.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) clearly didn’t like what he heard from Trump but was also cautious in his criticism.
“My comment is any time we’re commenting on anything but this Biden administration’s failed economy, failed border, failed national security, we’re not gaining ground,” Tillis said. When asked whether Trump should apologize, Tills added “I’ll leave that to President Trump.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), one of the few outspoken Trump critics inside the party, was dismayed by the whole episode:
