Trump is making his 2024 campaign about Harris’ race, whether Republicans want him to or not

By Steve Peoples and Matt BrownThe Associated PressNEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has found tremendous success from the very first moment he stepped onto the presidential stage by stoking racial animus.Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump pumps his fists after speaking at a campaign rally July 31, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)Democrats expressed new outrage this week at the former president’s derisive and false charge that Vice President Kamala Harris, who is of Jamaican and Indian heritage, only recently “turned Black” for political gain. Some Republicans — even from within Trump’s own campaign — seemed to distance themselves from the comment.But Trump’s rhetoric this week, and his record on race since he entered politics nearly a decade ago, indicate that divisive attacks on race may emerge as a core GOP argument in the three-month sprint to Election Day — whether his allies want them to or not.A Trump adviser, granted anonymity Aug. 1 to discuss internal strategy, said the campaign doesn’t need to focus on “identity politics” because the case against Harris is that she is “so liberal it’s dangerous.” The adviser pointed to Harris’ record on the Southern border, crime, the economy and foreign policy.In...