Although many were shocked and confused, some journalists and attendees understood the ethical reasoning behind a current presidential candidate being invited to the convention for a conversation.

“I think it was a perfect opportunity to join because he might become our future president, and I believe that even though a lot of people hate him, he should have the opportunity to speak. And it’s the First Amendment right, no matter how many people hate him, he should be represented as an American,” Chicago native Robyn Meurkson told Blavity.

“It seems like it’s not really his audience, but of course, he’s trying to connect with this audience to be able to get some more votes. At the same time, as media, part of the whole thing is being objective, to be able to hear both sides and see what people are thinking. I think it is important that we are objective to be able to allow him to be able to speak, especially if he does become president [again],” Brenden Anderson, an attendee from Oakland, California, agreed.

On July 31, ahead of his session, protesters gathered across the street outside of the Hilton Chicago. The conversation was set to start at noon but didn’t begin until around 1:15 p.m., which appeared to cause the crowd to get a bit anxious. Before things began, it was stated that the hashtag #NABJFactCheck was available to combat any false claims Trump may say, as he has a history of making untrue statements. When the Republican nominee was welcomed on stage, the room was mostly silent except for a small group who clapped and cheered for him.

Moderators for the discussion were Rachel Scott with ABC News, Harris Faulkner with Fox News, and Kadia Goba with Semafor. Scott came out the gate hot with the first question about Trump’s “false claims about some of your rivals from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama,” things he’s said about “four Congresswomen of color,” the use of “words like animal and rabid to describe Black District attorneys,” his criticisms of Black journalists, his relationship with white supremacists, and why the Black community should trust or vote for him.

Not happy about how she phrased the question, he replied, “First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner.”

He also shared that he considered Scott’s employer ABC a “fake news network” and said he wasn’t the reason the interview started late, which took the crowd by surprise, as they uttered gasps of disbelief at his comments about Scott’s inquiry.

Trump didn’t hesitate to mention that Kamala Harris was a no-show for the convention while pointing out that he was present. Among other things, topics discussed were his VP selection JD Vance, the work he said he’s done for Black people, inflation, immunity for police, his continued thoughts on the border, and immigration and its impact on “Black jobs.”

What stood out most to the crowd were his comments about Harris and the job she’s been doing as VP. He said she is “absolutely destroying this country” and has contributed to some of the downfalls in the country, such as inflation. In addition, when asked about the statement that she was a “DEI hire,” he shared his sentiments about her appeal to the Black population. He said that the biracial attorney, whose mother is Indian and father is Jamaican, just recently started focusing on her Black heritage.

“I’ve known her a long time, and she was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black,” Trump said.

The audience again was in disbelief, and some even laughed because it has long been known that she is biracial.

What was supposed to be an hour-long conversation was cut short after Trump’s team requested that it come to an end. If Trump hoped to earn the respect of Black journalists or gain more votes in the Black community by speaking at the NABJ convention, his visit did the opposite, and many weren’t surprised by how things took a turn for the worse.

“I thought this would give me and us a more personal chance to understand his viewpoints in a more personal matter. However, he did not shock me at all. He did exactly what I expected him to do. I just wish we had more fact-checkers on, whether on screen or on stage,” Tihanna Hayes from Georgia told Blavity. “He’s very rude. He twists words, he speaks in circles, he doesn’t answer questions straight, and that always tells me that someone is not telling the truth. I think it’s kind of despicable that he still can run in this presidential election. And it just further confirmed who my vote will be for, and it won’t be him.”

“I was really surprised that he kept talking about border policy, right? That seemed to be the driving message I guess that he was trying to deliver today, which I was surprised by. I thought he was here to connect with Black journalists and to really hear about what their concerns are. And I think unfortunately that wasn’t fully connected,” Chicago resident Angela Chen said.

“I am a long-term member of NABJ, so I’ve seen the family of the past day have their debates about this,” Aprill Turner, a resident of New York, said. “I did not have a problem with him coming here. Given all of his history, given all the things we know that he said, I still think it’s NABJ’s job to sit down and talk with him. Now that it’s happened, it went as expected. I am now questioning not that he shouldn’t have come, but what did it achieve? My biggest shock is that it went off the rails so quickly, but he has shown us before who he is, so there definitely aren’t big shocks. But yeah, it went as expected.”

Following Trump’s commentary, some members reflected on the NABJ’s choice to include him in the event.

“I kind of understood why they decided to [invite Trump], but my immediate thought was that I didn’t feel like it would end up being worth it in the end,” Cordell Woodland, who was in town from Baltimore, shared. “Honestly, after being in there and seeing how it went, it kind of went the way that I thought. So, I don’t believe this is going to be a good look for the organization. I could be wrong, but just for me personally it definitely is disappointing.”

A question many had was if Harris was going to make an appearance too. Unfortunately, they were met with the disappointing news that they wouldn’t hear from her, but it wasn’t because she didn’t have the time. According to a tweet from veteran journalist and NABJ member Roland Martin, she couldn’t attend in person but was available virtually.

“BREAKING NEWS: Vice President @KamalaHarris will not be speaking at @NABJ in-person or virtually. They offered for her to take questions virtually, but was turned down by NABJ. That makes NO sense. We do interviews DAILY by satellite, Skype and Zoom, so this should have happened,” he wrote.

BREAKING NEWS: Vice President @KamalaHarris will not be speaking at @NABJ in-person or virtually. They offered for her to take questions virtually, but was turned down by NABJ. That makes NO sense. We do interviews DAILY by satellite, Skype and Zoom, so this should have happened.

— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 30, 2024

NABJ has stated that they are in talks for Harris to do a Q&A either in person or virtually in September.