Politics and views in the United States.

Former President Donald Trump questions Kamala Harris' race and makes derogatory remarks about her husband. Librarians worry about Project 2025's impacts, and lawmakers put a task force together to study the assassination attempt on the former president.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2024 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage.

I didn't 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.

So I don't know, is she Indian or is she black?

Former President Donald Trump called Vice President Kamala Harris' race into question at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago.

Trump has made racially charged comments about Harris before, calling her a DEI diversity hire, saying she doesn't like Jewish people, and calling her husband Doug Emhoff a crappy Jew.

Emhoff responded on social media saying Trump's comments show a worse version of an already horrible person.

Democrats are calling on Republican lawmakers to condemn what they call racist and anti-Semitic statements, but some also say they're not surprised, since they expected the race to develop an ugly undercurrent once the Vice President replaced President Joe Biden as the presumptive nominee.

Harris has always spoken of herself as black, and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says no one has the right to tell another person how to identify.

Only she can speak to her experience.

Only she can speak to what it's like.

She's the only person that can do that.

And I think it's insulting for anybody.

It doesn't matter if it's a former leader, a former president.

Although the former president is disavowing Project 2025, many charge the hard-right's second-term roadmap would still play a central role if he's re-elected.

Librarians say they're worried by its call to close the Institute of Museums and Library Services, which distributes the only federal funding specifically set aside for public and state libraries.

Peter Bromberg with the group Every Library says it comes at a bad time.

But that threat of criminal penalties on top of these threats of what you can or can't say and the encouragement to censor would discourage educators and school librarians from providing a variety of diverse material.

As the election nears, threats of violence at poll sites have increased, but 15 states in the District of Columbia now prohibit firearms where people vote.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has just signed legislation to ban guns within 150 feet of polling sites on Election Day and during early voting.

Jeff Foster is with Common Cause Massachusetts.

They're sending a clear message that voters should be able to cast a ballot without fear and that local election officials should be able to administer an election safely without having to worry about intimidation.

Colorado and Vermont have also banned guns at the polls this year, while New Mexico banned open carry.

Congressional Republicans say they'll block President Biden's sweeping changes to the Supreme Court.

Biden says he'll devote the rest of his time in office to passing term limits and an enforceable ethics code.

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says what Biden is proposing is actually a stealth process to change some specific court rulings.

President Biden and his leftist allies don't like the current composition of the court, so they want to shred the Constitution to change it.

He wants what he calls an ethics code that already exists.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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