Kamala Harris slammed former President Trump Tuesday for spreading racist lies that Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating pets in an Ohio city and accused her Republican rival of seeking to divide Americans along racial lines to claw his way back to the White House.
The Democratic presidential nominee told a panel of journalists that Trump and his running mate JD Vance were betraying the trust of Americans by using lies to stir up hatred against immigrants, Haitians and Black people.
“It’s a crying shame,” Harris said before the panel hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia. “My heart breaks for this community.”
See more: Full coverage of Haitian immigrants in Alabama
Harris accused the GOP ticket of recycling racist rumors to exploit their supporters’ fears about immigrants.
“It’s hateful, and grounded in some age-old stuff that we should not have the tolerance for.” Harris added. “It’s got to stop.”
Harris also denounced political violence and said she called Trump earlier Tuesday to wish him well after the apparent assassination attempt as she answered questions from a panel of three journalists for more than 45 minutes.
“I checked on him to see if he’s OK,” Harris said of Trump. “I told him … there is no place for political violence in our country.”
The appearance by Harris served both to counter complaints that she has done relatively few unscripted interviews and also to make a rare explicit appeal for support from Black voters for her trailblazing bid to become the first Black woman president.
Harris defended her record with the Biden administration regarding lowering unemployment and boosting the economy for Black people.
But she also characterized herself as part of a “new generation of leadership” and pitched what she called a new effort to open up opportunities for Black people to open small businesses if she wins the White House.
“It should be a baseline that everybody is working … but everyone should also have the opportunity to build wealth,” Harris said, ticking off a list of obstacles Black people have faced like red-lining, housing discrimination and banks denying loans to Black-owned businesses.
The vice president also responded to some polls suggesting she has somewhat lower polling support among Black men, compared with Black women.
“Black men are like any other voting group: You gotta earn their votes,” Harris said. “We have so many entrepreneurs who do not have access to capital … but have great ideas and a great work ethic.”
Harris repeated her campaign pledge to win back abortion rights. She said she would redouble support to end the war in Gaza and push Israel to agree to a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
The Harris sitdown came several weeks after Trump made headlines with a rocky appearance at the NABJ convention.
The former president falsely claimed that Harris has only recently embraced her Black identity, drawing boos from the journalists in the crowd. That smear didn’t even come up in the chat with Harris, reflecting how little credence most journalists give Trump’s outlandish claim.
Asked about her trademark “joyful warrior” persona, Harris insisted she wouldn’t stop smiling or laughing even though Republicans have tried to mock her as unserious or a lightweight.
“Sometimes your adversaries will try to turn your strength into a weakness,” Harris said with a grin. “Don’t you let them.”
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