Harris Calls Trump ‘Insulting’ For Claiming His Conviction Appeals To Black Voters

Vice President Kamala Harris slammed former President Donald Trump for repeatedly claiming that he appeals to Black voters because of his felony conviction, saying the Republican candidate’s racist efforts to reach Black Americans are “insulting.”

Harris, the first Black American, South Asian American, and woman to be vice president, made the remarks in an interview with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski that aired on Monday. During the interview, Brzezinski asked the Democrat her thoughts on the indicted ex-president’s attempt to connect with Black voters via his legal struggles, as well as his oft-repeated claim that he can’t be racist because he has Black friends.

“Well, on the first point, as connected to the second point, it’s insulting,” Harris answered. “It’s insulting for a number of reasons, including [that] he has reduced the whole population of people down to a sum total of what is, in his mind, who they are. And he’s wrong, and he’s wrong.”

Trumpwas convicted last month on 34 felony counts related to his hush money trial, one of many cases for which the former president has been indicted, including charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election he lost.

“I got indicted for nothing ― for something that is nothing. … I got indicted a second time and a third time and a fourth time,” Trump said in February at the Black Conservative Federation Gala in South Carolina.

“And a lot of people said that that’s why the Black people like me, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against. And they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against,” he continued. “It’s been pretty amazing. Possibly ― maybe there’s something there.”

The Republican candidate repeated the claim in an interview