Like him strengthens its appeals Speaking to black voters, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke on a popular Black radio show Tuesday where she said she was still open to slavery reparations and criticized former President Donald Trump for sending Covid tests to Russia while “black people are dying” at home.
At a large-scale live radio town hall in Detroit hosted by syndicated radio host Charlamagne tha God, Harris faced sharp questions from the host and guests, some of whom said they felt black voters were being taken for granted by Democrats. rather less.”
Harris, who is trying to stem the small but steady erosion of Democratic support from voters of color, spoke personally about his upbringing in Oakland, the Black Church and Howard University, but said he knew he “had to win every vote.”
But while he often told supporters on the campaign trail that he was the underdog, he said Tuesday: “I’m going to win, but it’s tight.”
Harris launched a new line of attack against Trump, linking his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin to the well-being of black Americans, an issue of concern to mostly educated white progressives.
Harris, who used a new book by the famous journalist Bob Woodward, criticized Trump for sending it. Covid-19 testing devices to Putin when cars are scarce at home. NBC News could not independently verify this.
He said Trump was “someone to admire.”[s] dictators” and during the height of the pandemic “sent the president of Russia Covid tests that no one could buy for his personal use, black people were dying by the hundreds every day.
“The number of people who lost their grandparents and parents, do you remember what that was like?” Harris continued. “People were scrambling for resources and tests, and Donald Trump secretly sent Covid tests to the Russian president.”
He tried to disparage Trump — which may be an attempt to remove some of the bravado that appeals to male voters, especially as he focuses on black men.
“The man is really quite weak. He is weak,” she said. “It’s a sign of weakness to please dictators, to seek their flattery and favor. It’s a sign of weakness that you humiliate America’s military and America’s military. You don’t have the guts to stand up. It’s a sign of weakness. This man is weak and unfit for the Constitution of the United States and the principles it stands for.”
He also suggested that Trump is fine with people who say he supports fascism.
“Donald Trump wants to take us back,” Harris said.
“The other is about fascism,” Charlamagne said. “Why can’t we just say?”
“Yeah, we can say that,” he said with a laugh.
Harris also maintained his early support for studying the idea of slavery reparations, which he embraced during his first presidential run in 2019.
During this campaign, he adopted a number of progressive positions that he has since distanced himself from.
But when asked directly Tuesday, Harris replied, “Compensation-wise, that’s something to look into. No question about that.”
Harris as Senator supported the bill could create a federal commission to study policy and develop compensation proposals.
“I’m trying to be a president for all, but I’m clearly looking at history and the disparities that exist for specific communities, and I’m not going to shy away from that,” Harris said.
Harris, who has been criticized for his time as a prosecutor and his efforts to incarcerate black men on drug charges, defended his record, saying he did not seek prison terms only for felons charged with possession of marijuana.
“I will work to decriminalize it because I know exactly how these laws are used to disproportionately affect certain populations, especially Black men,” Harris added about working to change marijuana laws.
Trump’s campaign responded to the attacks in the interview by pointing to polls showing a majority of black voters think the country is on the wrong track.
“During the interview, he offered to pay reparations that could cost anywhere from $10 trillion to $12 trillion,” said Janiyah Thomas, Trump’s black media director. “Black Americans in Kamala’s America know we are second only to illegal immigrants. War in Ukraine and now the Middle East.”
Harris has a long but not-always-see-eye relationship with Charlamagne, whose real name is Lenard McKelvey, who appeared with him on the 2019 campaign trail but sometimes criticized him. and did not hesitate to press him in his interviews.
He didn’t ask her for a final moment on trans topics, which are common in pro-Trump circles.
“When you hear the mourner [of a Trump ad] “Hell no, I don’t want my taxpayer dollars going to that,” she said in one line when Kamala said she supported taxpayer-funded sex reassignments for prisoners. This ad was effective,” said Charlamagne he said last month.
The ad refers to Harris’ position in 2019 he told the ACLU she supports gender-affirming care for detainees and people in immigration detention. His campaign has since backed away from that position.
In the interview, Harris also defended himself against criticism that he can be cautious in his speaking style, stick to his talking points and often repeats himself in interviews and speeches.
Asked what he had to say to critics who said he was sticking to his talking points, Harris said: “I’d say ‘you’re welcome.'”
He later said that repetition was necessary to reach distracted voters who did not know about him, adding that his approach was “discipline”.
Both the Trump and Harris campaigns shared a clip of the moment on social media platform X, suggesting that both appeared to be making a point.
On a lighter note, Harris said she liked Maya Rudolph’s impression of her on Saturday Night Live, despite some pro-Harris voices like radio host Howard Stern saying they don’t like people making fun of her.
“I have nothing but admiration for comedy,” Harris said.