ABC Washington correspondent and host of "This Week," George Stephanopoulos went down in a spectacular blaze when he tried to badger Trump surrogate and Florida Congressman Byron Donalds into denying the truth and accepting media gaslighting.
The main subject on Stephanopoulous's agenda at a time when the world is teetering on the brink of a handful of major regional wars, financial collapse, the Western world is facing cultural devastation, and the calculated destruction of the norms that have unified the United States for over 200 years by Joe Biden and his lackeys was whether Donalds, who is black, considered Harris to be black.
This is the setup for the segment.
WANG (voice over): Harris is expected to announce her pick by Tuesday night when the pair will appear at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, before a multiday blitz through seven key battleground states.
It all comes on the heels of Trump's controversial comments at the National Association of Black Journalists Conference on Wednesday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she is a black woman?
TRUMP: Well, I can say, no, I think it’s maybe a little bit different. 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. I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when 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? But you know what, I respect either one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She has always identified as a black woman. She went to a historically black college.
WANG (voice over): Trump later went on to share this photo of Harris and her family wearing traditional Indian clothing and writing, “Your warmth, friendship, and love of your Indian heritage are very much appreciated.”
Harris has long embraced her Jamaican and Indian heritage, as well as her identity as a black woman. As senator, she joined the Congressional Black Caucus. Harris reacting to Trump's remarks by drawing a contrast with his campaign.
It starts off with Stephanopoulos asking a question and Donalds giving an excellent answer.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Why is former President Trump questioning the vice president's racial identity?
DONALDS: Well, first, George, in Chicago he was responding to a question from, I believe, Rachel Scott. Like, this is really a phony controversy. I don't really care. Most people don't. But if we're going to be accurate, when Kamala Harris went into the United States Senate, it was AP that said she was the first Indian American United States senator. It was actually played up a lot when she came into the Senate. Now she's running nationally. Obviously, the campaign has shifted. They're talking much more about - about her father's heritage and her black identity.
It doesn't really matter. The president mentioned it. What he also talks about far more frequently is the fact that Kamala Harris is the person who created this massive inflation which is destroying black families, white families, Hispanic families. It's her failure as border czar that has left our southern border wide open. More than 10 million illegal immigrants coming into our country. Record fentanyl coming into our country which has killed more Americans than at any other point in the history of our country with respect specifically to fentanyl.
STEPHANOPOULOS: OK.
DONALDS: And the fact that she and Joe Biden have unleashed one of the worst foreign policies in the history of our country that has us on the verge of World War III. That is Kamala Harris' record.
President Trump talks about that frequently. But, yes, he did mention it in Chicago, in response to a question from Rachel Scott.
You may want to lean back a bit while watching this as the former Clinton White House muppet slings droplets of saliva around like beads at a Mardi Gras parade.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And you - and you just repeated the slur again. If it doesn't matter, why do you all keep questioning her identity? She's always identified as a black woman. She is biracial. She has a Jamaican father and an Indian mother. She's always identified as both. Why are you questioning that?
DONALDS: Well, George, first of all, this is something that's actually a conversation throughout social media right now. There were a lot of people who were trying to figure this out. But again, that's a side issue, not the main issue. The main issue that's (INAUDIBLE) - Kamala Harris is the vice president of the United States.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Sir, one second. So, you just did it - you just did it again.
DONALDS: George, (INAUDIBLE) for what (INAUDIBLE) -
STEPHANOPOULOS: Why - why do you - why do you insist on questioning her racial identity?
DONALDS: You want to talk or do you want me to talk?
STEPHANOPOULOS: I - I want you to answer my question.
DONALDS: OK, you don't yelling at - George - George, now that you're done yelling at me, let me answer.
He talked about it on the stage yesterday in Atlanta for, what, two minutes? He spent more than 35, 40 minutes going after her record, talking about how radical of a senator that she was. She was the most liberal senator in the United States - in the United States Senate. That is a fact. He talked about the job that she did as vice president of the United States. A job, I will add, which has been a failure for the American people. I know you guys like to glom on to this, that he talks about in jest or in a serious manner for about a minute or so. What you do not cover is the litany of failures of Kamala Harris. That's what you're not covering, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So, question - so questioning somebody's racial identity for a couple of minutes is OK?
DONALDS: George, I'm going to tell you again, he brought it up. AP is the one that wrote the headline when she first came into the United States Senate. Didn't talk about her being black. Talked about her being the first Indian American senator. AP brought that up.
I mean, George, we could have this conversation for the entire segment, but none of this matters to the American people. What matters to the American people is, are we going to have the same policies of the Biden-Harris administration that has been destructive of the American people? Or are we going to have the policies of the Trump administration which put America first, had low inflation, prosperous Americans no matter your race, no matter your color, no matter your creed, and a foreign policy that kept America safe?
Those are the facts that truly matter because this issue is going to come and go, the lives of the American people is what's going to remain and that's what matters more than anything else.
STEPHANOPOULOS: If it doesn't matter, I don't understand why you keep on repeating it, why the president keeps on repeating it, why those introducing the president yesterday keep on repeating it.
DONALDS: George, actually, I'm not the one who keeps repeating it. George, you're the one that's bringing it up now. That's -- I don't I understand why --
(CROSSTALK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: You've done -- sir, you've done it -- you've done it three times, every single answer you gave me.
Now, let me finish, sir --
DONALDS: George --
STEPHANOPOULOS: -- every single answer you gave, you repeated the slur.
(CROSSTALK)
DONALDS: You asked me, George. That's why I'm pushing back on you now.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Right.
DONALDS: George, you asked me the question three times, I responded but --
(CROSSTALK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: And every single time you repeat the slur, that is my -- exactly my point. You simply can't say that it's wrong.
DONALDS: George, so then what you're saying -- so then what you -- and I want to get off this topic because it's not the only thing that's going on. But, George, now you're saying that "AP" is the one that slurred Kamala Harris? Because those are the facts.
You can go to the Internet and look at the clips, George, if you want to or we can talk about this now.
I prefer to talk about the future of our country because the American people are struggling. The American people do need serious policy decisions to be made and they need serious leadership on the world stage.
Kamala Harris has not proven that she can do that. Donald J. Trump has proven that he can do that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: "AP" did not say that Kamala Harris is not Black. She is biracial. She is Indian. She is Black.
You continue to repeat the fact that you continue to repeat the slur. I don't understand why you and the president do it.
But it's clear you're not going to say that it's wrong. And you've now established that for our audience.
Let's review the bidding for a second; while Stephanopoulos is chasing "slurs," maybe he should get all shouty-faced with the media, not a guy who reads the media.
- Kamala Harris’ Indian roots and why they matter | CNN Politics
- With Kamala on the Ballot, Indian-Americans Predict Higher Turnout - WSJ
- Kamala Harris first Indian-American US Senator (youtube.com)
- How Kamala Harris' Indian roots shaped her political views (youtube.com)
- Kamala Harris’ Indian roots highlight a historic shift in the US | CNN
- How Sen. Kamala Harris' Indian heritage propelled her (nbcnews.com)
- Kamala sworn in as first Indian-American senator | Sacramento Bee
- How Kamala’s Family in India Helped Shape Her Values - (nytimes.com)
Despite everything you're reading on social media about this line of attack not being effective, it is.
When former President Trump met with the National Association of Black Journalists—something Kamala refused to do—the number one question was about Kamala's racial identity. That was not an accident. It was intended to equate the subject with racism and make it forbidden. Stephanopoulos made Kamala's "racial identity" (I didn't know Grifter-American was a racial identity, but it seems to be) the subject of his interview with Donalds to try to make the subject off limits.
But it is a subject. At Trump's rally in Atlanta on Saturday, Michaelah Montgomery, the founder of Conserve the Culture, discussed Kamala's blackness.
When CNN sent some mope into a Black barbershop, the result was one of their White anchors telling his audience that Black men didn't know what they were talking about.
The same people telling us that pointing out Kamala's race-grifting is hurting us are the same people who said that calling out Elizabeth Warren on her "Cherokee" heritage was hurting us. No one, other than the Cat Lady demographic and their eunuch simps, likes a fake.
There is no need for this to be the main subject, but, as Donalds said, "He talked about it on the stage yesterday in Atlanta for, what, two minutes? He spent more than 35, 40 minutes going after her record, talking about how radical of a senator that she was." As a tangential, secondary attack, it is obviously hurting enough that the Democrats are trying to shut that conversation down.