If you want to claim, as President Trump has, that you are the “least racist person,” it’s a good idea to avoid suggesting that one member of a racial group knows another person of that same group, simply because they share the same racial identity. It suggests you view them as people without individual distinction, personality and experiences, as interchangeable pieces of an unknowable other.

And yet Mr. Trump did exactly that during his press conference on Thursday, while answering a question from April Ryan, a veteran journalist and the White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks. Ms. Ryan, who is black, asked the president about his campaign pledge to “fix” inner cities, which prompted Mr. Trump to talk about his performance with African-American and Hispanic voters and remark that people in inner cities are “living in hell.” When Ms. Ryan followed up by asking whether Mr. Trump would be willing to meet and work with the Congressional Black Caucus to address these issues, the president asked her if she wanted to set up such a meeting.

“No, no, no,” she replied. “I’m just a reporter.”

As she spoke, the president pressed on: “Are they friends of yours? Set up the meeting.”