Maggie Haberman, a reporter for the New York Times, suggested that former President Trump is attempting to provoke Vice President Harris into a racial confrontation, pointing out his difficulties when facing female opponents.
During an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Tuesday, Haberman remarked that Trump appears unsettled by Harris’s candidacy, partly because she is a Black woman. She explained that Trump felt “comfortable” running against President Biden but has a harder time attacking “women opponents, women critics, and particularly Black women who are critics.”
Haberman also drew parallels between Trump’s attacks on Harris
Haberman highlighted the Trump campaign’s efforts on social media, particularly through the Trump War Room Twitter account, to instigate a conflict over race, a tactic that the Harris campaign has thus far avoided engaging with. This strategy, she noted, is consistent with Trump’s previous behavior in other races.
In the initial phase of Harris’s campaign, some Republicans faced backlash for labeling her a “DEI hire,” in reference to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Trump has also mocked Harris’s background, suggesting in an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists convention that she only recently “happened to turn Black.”
Harris has a mixed heritage, being both Black and South Asian.
Haberman also drew parallels between Trump’s attacks on Harris and those he previously directed at former President Obama, noting that Trump tends to repeat the same tactics. She recalled how Trump tried to delegitimize Obama, the first Black president, by promoting the birther conspiracy when he was contemplating a presidential run in 2011.
