Op-Ed: What it was like to hear from Trump at the NABJ

By Janiyah Gaston >>

Less than 48 hours before the opening of the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, the organization announced that former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump would speak on the opening day.

I hadn’t left yet for Chicago, and at first, I was not sure it was even true until I checked NABJ’s official X account. The announcement had been posted late at night when people were already in bed.

The move shocked many NABJ members, including me. When I checked the NABJ social media accounts, a lot of people were displeased by the fact he was going to be there. It’s not unheard of for presidential candidates to address us. President Joe Biden joined virtually last year, and former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have all attended. Trump was invited in 2016 and 2020 but didn’t attend.

The Trump Q&A was moderated by Rachel Scott, senior congressional correspondent for ABC News; Harris Faulkner, anchor of The Faulkner Focus and co-host of Outnumbered on 

Fox News; and Kadia Goba, politics reporter at Semafor.

I was going back and forth about going to the event because Trump has been notorious for not directly answering questions during interviews. On the other hand, given the comments he has said about Black Americans and reporters I wanted to know what he would say. In the end, I decided to attend because I would probably never get a chance like this again.

According to a September 2024 poll  from the New York Times and Siena College, over all, Harris has 78% support from Black voters.

The Q&A took up most of the first day at the convention due to attendees having to go through security and the event starting an hour late. When Trump finally came out, right off the bat, I was thrown off because of how he was talking to Scott of ABC News when she asked the former president about his past statements.

Said Scott: “You have attacked Black journalists, calling them a loser, saying the questions that they ask are, quote, ‘stupid and racist.’ You’ve had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar-a-Lago resort. So my question, sir, now that you are asking Black supporters to vote for you: Why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?”

Trump responded, “Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve 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.”

He then slammed organizers for the program not starting on time.

I found it very rude and unnecessary for him to jump down her throat just because she did not say hi the way he wanted her to.

When they got around to asking him about different policies, I did not expect him to answer the questions seriously. When the moderators asked why Black voters should vote for him after he made disparaging comments about Black politicians, he started listing all the things he has done for the Black community.

Hearing him say how he has helped out history Black Colleges and Universities and create more opportunities for Black workers was ridiculous.

Hearing him say Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris changed her race to Black and then refused to explain what a “Black job” is, I could not take him seriously.

“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indiana heritage,” Trump said. “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.”

Scott quickly replied, “She’s always been Black.”

Most of the time when Trump gave a response I was laughing because his answers never felt serious. When the moderators brought up how he aligns with JD Vance, his running mate, he danced around the question. The moderators brought up Project 2025, which has been a huge topic of discussion because it is essentially an outline of goals conservative groups would like to achieve if Trump wins the election. Before the moderators could finish the question, Trump decided to abruptly end the Q&A.

I did not learn anything beneficial during the Q&A. The event was surreal because I would see this man on TV, saying all these things and just seeing him say them in person made it real to me. This is an actual human being who thinks like this.

While Harris has the lead now, she is still fighting to get more of the Black male vote. In the New York Times/Siena College poll referenced earlier, 20% of Black men support Trump and 70% support Harris. Despite this, Harris is still making an effort to get support from Black men. She is working to start programs that help Black entrepreneurs as well as providing incentives to get more Black men to become teachers.

Janiyah Gaston is a senior at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and president of the SIUC student chapter of NABJ. 

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