CNN correspondent Elle Reeve interviewed Jo-Anne Pricea black woman who owns a pro-Trump store in Virginia and several customers about their support for the former president Donald Trump.
Reeves’ interview with Price was broadcast on CNN during AC360and host Anderson Cooper introduced the segment by talking about recent polls that showed momentum for the Vice President Kamala Harris since she was named after President Joe Biden step aside.
Harris’ support among black voters is even higher than Biden’s at 77%, Cooper said, while Trump’s support among black voters is “unchanged at about 13%.”
One of those black Trump supporters was Price, who interviewed Reeve at her store in Virginia.
The merchandise Price Reeve showed included swimsuits and cowboy hats emblazoned with the Confederate flag, as well as a counterfeit credit card labeled “White Privilege Card.”
“Every woman should have one of these,” Price said of a one-piece swimsuit with a rebel flag. “It’s one of those things that when people see one, they immediately want it.” She said the Confederate hat was “the same thing … because people think you don’t have the courage to do it,” then laughed.
Regarding the “White Privilege Card,” a black customer in the store said he had one and showed it to a police officer, who laughed it off and did not give him a ticket.
Price told Reeve she would have “absolutely never” considered voting for Biden or even Harris, “absolutely not.” She felt the attacks on Trump “did nothing but strengthen the connection that black people have with him, because now he’s someone who’s being targeted.” The store owner added that she worked in prison ministry for five years, and “when you’re a convicted felon and then someone else is a convicted felon, there’s a camaraderie that develops.”
The CNN reporter then asked Price about Trump’s attacks on Harris’ ethnicity when the former president falsely claimed she had only recently declared that she was black. Harris has an Indian mother and a Jamaican father and has always identified as biracial, attended a historically black university, Howard University, and was a member of a historically black fraternity, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
“How do you understand the way Trump talks about Harris and her ethnicity when he ‘somehow implies that he doesn’t understand her biracial heritage’ by saying ‘first she was Indian and then she was black?'” Reeve asked.
“I don’t understand it either,” said Price. “She’s Indian and Jamaican.”
“Yes,” said Reeve.
“Is is she black?” asked Price.
“I mean, don’t you think she’s black?” asked Reeve.
“Is that her? Was she born here?” asked Price.
“Yes,” said Reeve. Harris was born in California.
“Yes, were her parents citizens? No,” Price said.
“Okay, but we are birthright citizens in America,” Reeve said.
“Mm-hmm. We call this anchor-” said Price.
“People can immigrate here even if they don’t have citizenship but have a green card and a work permit,” Reeve said.
“Yes, that’s true. However, she can claim to be black because her father is Jamaican, and that’s her right,” Price said, adding that America is a “melting pot” and she has a “combination” in her family as well.
Reeve asked Price how she could “reconcile” that with her own family history full of blended families and “Trump apparently not understanding how Kamala Harris can have a blended family of her own?”
“She herself might have a blended family. I think he’s making a point with his comments on that, and you know, it doesn’t bother me that much,” Price said.
“But what does he mean by that?” Reeve pressed.
“All he’s saying is that she’s not a black-black person,” Price replied.
Later in the interview, Price told Reeve that Trump had been “mocked, scrutinized, vilified and dragged to court,” but “this man is still standing, and he is strong because he knows he was chosen.”
“He is our David,” she added.
Watch the clip above on CNN.
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