Mary Trump, the estranged niece of former President Donald Trump, wrote in a Sunday blog post that the “truth is quite simple” about her uncle, describing him as “a racist, a misogynist [and] a liar” following his recent appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump, despite controversy over his invitation, sat down for an interview at the NABJ convention in Chicago that was moderated by ABC News senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, Fox News host Harris Faulkner, and Semafor reporter Kadia Goba.
During the interview, Scott asked Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, why Black voters should “trust” him given his previous remarks. Scott highlighted a few instances saying, “You have told four congresswomen of color who were American citizens to go back to where they came from,” in reference to the Squad, and “you’ve attacked black journalists, calling them a loser, saying the questions that they ask are, ‘stupid and racist.'”
The former president then responded, “I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner, the first question. You don’t even say ‘Hello. How are you?’ Are you with ABC because I think they’re a fake news network, a terrible network.”
In her blog, Mary Trump commented on the opening remarks and wrote, “As soon as he realized he wasn’t going to get the kind of softball questions usually lobbed at him, however, he reverted to type and acted, without an ounce of self-control, like the racist bully he is.”
At one point during the interview, Scott asked if he believes Vice President Kamala Harris became the nominee only because of her race, with Donald Trump saying he didn’t know she was Black for years.
“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” he said. “I didn’t know she was Black until a couple of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black.” His remarks have drawn widespread criticism.
Harris responded to Trump’s comments at a campaign rally in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday, calling it “the same old show.”
“The divisiveness and the disrespect,” she said. “And let me just say, the American people deserve better.”
Commenting on the NABJ interview, Mary Trump wrote on Sunday, “It’s not that we didn’t already know the extent of Donald’s racism and misogyny, but to see how quickly he became incapable of controlling himself, of modulating his responses, of pretending, was quite something.”
She added: “The truth is quite simple. Donald can’t help himself. When it comes to him, we shouldn’t overthink it. He is exactly what he seems: a racist, a misogynist, a liar. He is a bully who has no business getting anywhere near the White House. His pulling out of the debate should remind us that he is also a monumental coward.”
Newsweek has reached out to Mary Trump and Donald Trump’s campaign manager via email on Sunday.
The former president had previously been cagey about whether or not he would debate Harris, with his campaign previously saying they weren’t sure who the Democratic nominee would be after President Joe Biden stepped aside in the race in an unprecedented move on July 21.
Harris previously prepared to face off against Trump at the pre-arranged ABC News debate on September 10, which had been scheduled before Biden dropped out. After Biden stepped down, Trump’s campaign released a statement declining to commit to a debate with Harris.
Late Friday night, Trump posted to Truth Social, his social media platform, to say he agreed to a Fox News debate against Harris on September 4.
“Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out. He needs to stop playing games and show up to the debate he already committed to on Sept 10,” Michael Tyler, Harris’ campaign communications director, said in a previous statement emailed to Newsweek.
