Brian Kilmeade: Kamala Harris’ Race Not a ‘Winning Issue’ But Trump Is ‘Unaware of Race And Gender’

Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade came out Thursday defending former President Donald Trump’s remarks questioning Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity by claiming that the Republican nominee was “unaware of race and gender.”

During a tense and combative interview on Wednesday at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in Chicago, Trump falsely claimed that Harris had misrepresented her race to voters. The remarks have been slammed as “mix-race baiting” by commentators and journalists.

The Fox & Friends team began by blasting the NABJ event host, ABC News reporter Rachel Scott, for asking “tough questions right out of the gate” after also starting the event 40 minutes late, which the organization said was due to technical difficulties.

As the conversation rounded on Trump’s comments around Harris’ race, Kilmeade spoke up to defend the former president, although admitted it wasn’t a “winning issue.”

He walked into an extremely hostile environment. She asked the five questions that, I guess, angered her the most about him all at once without even saying hello. It ticked him off, he’s a human being. He said: ‘Okay. This kind of caught me by surprise.’ Also, he couldn’t hear Harris’ questions. She was two seats away he goes: ‘I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. You’re only two feet away.’ Adding to the frustration of the whole thing. So, it seems to me, probably, you’re in that situation, you should be briefed ahead of time that you are probably going to walking into a hostile environment. I think it caught him by surprise.

I also don’t think that it’s a winning issue to bring up Kamala Harris – Indian, Black, it doesn’t matter. He’s just running against a Democrat. I think the thing is, President Trump is so unaware of race and gender. A lot of people say: ‘Wow you don’t talk to women like that. You don’t talk to minorities like that.’ He said ‘I’m running against that person.’ That’s all he sees. And we all know this by now. Not people that know him personally and people that have been in the public who have watched him in the public for the last 8 years [ask]: ‘How can you say that to minority? How can you say that to a woman?’ All he sees is ‘I have to win. I don’t like what that person is saying. I cannot believe they are not here and this is where we are.’

Co-host Steve Doocy then acknowledged that Trump’s campaign had said they wanted to focus on Harris’ past policy positions as an attack route before the Fox & Friends team pivoted itself to do the hard lifting of critiquing Harris, accusing her of having been “so liberal” and “flip-flopping” on major issues.

Watch on Fox & Friends.