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By Ewan Palmer
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A number of MAGA and Republican figures are attacking Vice President Kamala Harris' heritage after Donald Trump said she "happened to turn Black."
During an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists convention on Wednesday, Trump was asked whether the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee, whose mother is Indian and father is Jamaican, is on the ticket only as a diversity, equity and inclusion hire, as suggested by some GOP figures.
In response, Trump said that Harris previously embraced only her Indian heritage—though, as an NABJ moderator said, Harris has always also identified as Black. The vice president attended Howard University, a historically Black university in Washington, D.C., and in 2017, she became a member of the Congressional Black Caucus while serving as a senator.
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"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," Trump said, adding, "I respect either one, but she obviously doesn't because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn, and she became a Black person."
In response, a number of Trump supporters have doubled down on the attack line against Harris' heritage on social media, including by sharing videos and images of the vice president embracing her mother's Indian heritage.
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While posting an apparent image of Harris' birth certificate on X, formerly Twitter, Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist, wrote, "Nowhere on her birth certificate does it say that she is BLACK OR AFRICAN."
"Donald Trump is correct. Kamala Harris is NOT black and never has been," she added.
Conservative podcaster Benny Johnson posted a clip of Harris replying "knock wood" to the suggestion that she could become the first Indian American senator in U.S. history, which she achieved after winning a Senate seat in 2016.
"Kamala Harris brags about becoming the 'First Indian Senator in American History' So...," Johnson wrote.
On Wednesday, a large screen above the crowd at a Trump rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, showed a 2016 Business Insider headline that said Harris had become the first Indian American senator in U.S. history.
Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and a political commentator, posted a 2019 video featuring Harris cooking with Indian American actor Mindy Kaling. During the clip, Harris agrees that they are both of south Indian heritage and tells Kaling, "You look like the entire one half of my family."
Lavern Spicer, a congressional candidate running in Florida's 24th District, added: "I'm Black and I've been Black my whole life. Can someone tell me when this Kamala Harris woman decided she was Black?
"The media is covering for this woman saying she's 'code switching' but you can't code switch a whole race. You either Black or you not. You either experience the Black experience or you don't. So what is it, girl?"
Newsweek has contacted Harris' office for comment via email.
In response to the attack line from Trump, Harris said at a campaign rally in Houston that the former president's remarks were "the same old show."
"The divisiveness and the disrespect," Harris added. "And let me just say, the American people deserve better."
"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," she continued. "We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us; they are an essential source of our strength."
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump's 2024 running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, suggested that in his remarks, the former president was pointing out the "fundamental chameleon-like nature" of Harris.
"What I question is why she presents a different posture depending on what audience she's in front of. She'll say one thing to one audience, another thing to another audience. She'll say something totally different to another audience," Vance added.
He continued: "All the president said is this is a person who switches identity like a normal person changes their clothes. And I think it's totally proper to call that out."
Correction 08/01/24, 07:26 a.m. ET: This article was updated with the correct spelling of Lavern Spicer's name.
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