'He couldn't help himself': Journalist singles out bizarre act by Trump during grilling

As part of the "Morning Joe" post-mortem on Donald Trump's abrasive and confrontational appearance before Black journalists in Chicago on Wednesday that ended with his handlers cutting the event short, the New York Times' Mara Gay noted one moment that she felt was illustrative of the former president's attitude towards Black women.

Speaking with fill-in hosts Jonathan Lemire and Katty Kay, Gay —who serves on the Times editorial board — followed up commentary about the speech from the Rev. Al Sharpton and began, "There was one more thing that I noticed when I watched the event yesterday, which was the deeply held personal animus and contempt that Donald Trump showed for the Black women interviewing him and the journalists in the room."

"I believe it's going to be — if he does take up Kamala Harris's challenge to debate him, I believe it'll be a problem for him with everyone outside of that Republican, the most rabid right-wing base. People are going to see that," she added.

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She then noted, "At one point, he even reached over to tighten ABC News' Rachel Scott's water bottle," before observing, "which was just an expression of dominance."

"He couldn't help himself," she elaborated. "It was almost as though he could not take, personally take the fact that these black women on stage had the platform..."

"They belong on the stage," Sharpton then interjected. "You are black and a woman, you shouldn't be questioning me."

"Right," Gay agreed.

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