Former President Donald Trump participated in a discussion at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention and Career Fair in Chicago on Wednesday. The conference took a combative turn when the event, which was running an hour behind schedule, started with aggressive questioning of Trump when ABC News journalist Rachel Scott questioned whether it was “appropriate” for him to be there.
Trump quickly clapped back at her series of questions as “very rude.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner — first question,” he reacted. “You don’t even say, ‘Hello, how are you?’”
The Republican nominee also tore into the conference for allegedly misleading him about the details of the event that were supposed to include his Democratic opponent.
“I think it’s a very rude introduction. I don’t know exactly why you would do something like that. Let me go a step further: I was told my opponent, whether it was Biden or Kamala, I was told my opponent was going to be here. It turned out my opponent isn’t here; you invited me under false pretenses,” Trump said.
“I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirit. I love the black population of this country, I’ve done so much for the black population of this country,” the Republican presidential nominee said.
The journalists attending the conference audibly jeered Trump after he claimed, “I have been the best president for the black population since Abraham Lincoln.”
The combative exchange between the former president and the journalists on stage received many reactions from viewers.
“I’m a lifetime member of NABJ,” influencer Tariq Nasheed said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “But they sat up here and got COOKED by Trump today by trying to act like shills for the Democrats. If they would have been more objective, their grilling would not have backfired on them.”
Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), shared that the former president was courageous for attending the event.
“President Trump walked right into the NABJ conference and showed he had the courage to take tough questions,” Vance said on X, adding that the vice president backed out of the event. “While Kamala Harris continues to hide from any scrutiny or unfriendly media like the coward she is.”
Trump supporter and television personality Amber Rose said the leading Republican presidential nominee was “absolutely crushing this interview with @NABJ.”
Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner revealed that the live audience enjoyed the conversation with the former president. She was a co-moderator.
“What I loved about what you couldn’t see today was how much of that audience was enjoying the moment of hearing from a candidate that they might not always agree with — and that is the whole point,” Faulkner, who was a co-moderator on the panel interviewing Trump, said in reaction to the event.
Comedian Terence K. Williams called Trump’s pushback of journalist questions “the best thing” on the internet.
“Trump roasted this journalist like a thanksgiving turkey after she ambushed him without saying ‘Hello. Its the best thing you will watch on the internet today,” Williams said.
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The Harris campaign reacted to the event by slamming Trump’s “hostility” at the conference.
“The hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power,” Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler wrote in a press statement.
