Republican calls Trump's questioning of Kamala Harris' race 'satire'

Former President Donald Trump was just being satirical when he accused Vice President Kamala Harris of making up her Black heritage, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) told the Huffington Post's Igor Bobic.

The former president has come under fire for his remarks, during a question-and-answer event with reporters at the National Association of Black Journalists on Wednesday, when he was asked whether he considered Harris to be a "DEI hire" — an increasingly popular slur with Republican lawmakers to falsely imply an unqualified person hired or promoted due to their race.

"I have known her a long time, indirectly, not directly very much. And she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage," Trump said in reply, as the shocked audience began protesting. "I did not know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. Is she Indian or is she Black?"

But Trump didn't really mean that, said Cramer.

Read also: 'That's a lie': The 10 quotes Trump said to Black journalists that led to outbursts

“I don't think he's doubting her blackness. What he's doing is he's making fun of the fact that she chooses it when it's convenient, and chooses another race when that's convenient,” said Cramer. However, he admitted, Trump should avoid saying things like this in future because "nuance or satire is often confused, is often confusing. It'll provide people opportunity to take words literally and apply them in a different way."

The attack on Harris' race prompted an immediate reaction from her presidential campaign, which issued a statement saying Trump "lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency," and that "Today’s tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies this entire campaign."