Trump Escalates Race Attacks on Harris, Worrying Some Republicans

Donald J. Trump continued to raise false and incendiary questions about Vice President Kamala Harris’s racial identity for a second day on Thursday, as Republicans watched the former president drive his campaign into a divisive and potentially damaging direction.

A day after telling an audience of Black journalists in Chicago that Ms. Harris had “all of a sudden” decided to become “a Black person,” Mr. Trump posted a photo on his social media site of Ms. Harris dressed in a sari with a caption stating: “Your warmth, friendship, and love of your Indian Heritage are very much appreciated.”

Mr. Trump also amplified posts from Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist, who had posted copies of Ms. Harris’s birth certificate and had spread false accusations that Ms. Harris has lied about her race.

Ms. Harris, whose father is from Jamaica, and whose mother was Indian American, has long identified with both her Black and South Asian heritage.

An alumna of a historically Black institution, Howard University, she responded to Mr. Trump’s comments during her speech at a convention of Black sororities on Wednesday, saying, “The American people deserve better.”

Whether Mr. Trump’s initial remarks on Wednesday were planned or not, the Trump team is clearly intensifying this line of attack.