Donald Trump's idiotic comments saying Vice President Kamala Harris suddenly "turned Black" did not go over well with Karine Jean-Pierre during a White House press conference today. In fact, the astonished press secretary called the ex-president's reptilian remarks "repulsive," for starters.
Jean-Pierre's appalled reaction came after a journalist live-reported what Trump had just said at today's National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago. Reading from his phone, the journalist repeated Trump verbatim: "I didn't know [Harris] was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black…and now she wants to be known as Black. So I didn't know, is she Indian or is she Black? …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 went Black." (See second video below, posted by Aaron Rupar.)
Jean Pierre first responded to the Trump quote with shocked laughter, saying, "He is a candidate, so I'm going to be super careful." But when it sounded like she was about to be cut off by a reporter, who thought she was finished, her hand shot out. "Wait, no, no, no, hold on, hold on — I have more to say. I certainly have more to say."
And then Jean-Pierre didn't hold back. "As a person of color, as a Black woman who is in this position that is standing before you at this podium behind this lectern, what he just said — what you just read out to me — is repulsive," she said.
"It's insulting, and no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify."
"I'll add this – only she can speak to her experience. Only she can speak to what it's like. She's the only person that can do that," Jean-Pierre continued. "And I think it's insulting for anybody — it doesn't matter if it's a former leader, a former president — it is insulting. She is the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. We have to put some respect on her name. Period." (See Jean-Pierre's reaction in the first video below, posted by The Recount.)
Previously: Trump's NABJ meltdown: Orange snowflake roasted by Black journalists
