Would You Still Support Donald Trump if You Knew He’d Said These Things?
Trump allegedly became more conservative since switching back to the GOP, but his offensive remarks have continued throughout the primary race.
When Donald Trump entered the Republican presidential race, many feared his penchant for off-the-wall statements would sink his chances. So far, they have had little effect, since he is the frontrunner in the race to win the GOP nomination. But if he wins the nomination, we should count on wall-to-wall media coverage of his many verbal gaffes and insults.
Here are some of the most damaging statements he’s made, many of them from during the primaries. Warning: Several are highly offensive, although the profanity has been edited.
Disrespecting Our Soldiers Captured in War
John McCain is “not a war hero … He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured, OK?” (Ames, Iowa, July 18, 2015)
Mocking the Handicapped
During a rally in South Carolina, Trump made fun of a journalist who suffers from arthrogryposis, which locks joints. Serge Kovaleski has a congenital joint condition that affects the movement in his arms. Trump twisted his right arm into a crooked pose, contorted his face, and said, “Now the poor guy, you gotta see this guy, ‘Uh, I don’t know what I said. I don’t remember.’ He’s going, “I don’t remember. Maybe that’s what I said.’”
Trump claimed later he did not know the reporter was handicapped. (November 24, 2015)
After Charles Krauthammer, a paralyzed conservative journalist, called Trump a “rodeo clown,” Trump responded, “I get called by a guy that can’t buy a pair of pants, I get called names?” (NBC interview, July 8, 2015)
Just Plain Creepy
“I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.” (The View, March 6, 2006)
When his daughter Ivanka was 15, he took a photo of them looking really close next to two birds mating, saying, “Yeah, [Ivanka’s] really something and what a beauty, that one. If I weren’t happily married, and ya know, her father …”
Classless
“My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body.” (Page Six, 2011)
Trump’s response to Marco Rubio pointing out that he has small hands, which is apparently a pet peeve of Trump’s: “Look at those hands. Are they small hands? He referred to my hands, ‘if they’re small, something else must be small.’ I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee.” (Republican presidential debate, March 3, 2016)
“Show me someone without an ego, and I’ll show you a loser.” (Facebook, Dec. 9, 2013)
“For many years I’ve said that if someone screws you, screw them back. When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can.” (How to Get Rich, 2004)
“People say the ’80s are dead, all the luxury, the extravagance. I say, ‘What?’ Am I supposed to change my taste because it’s a new decade? That’s b.s.” (Playboy, May 1997)
What He Thinks of Conservatives
Michelle Malkin is a “dummy.” (Twitter, Oct. 25, 2012)
George Will is a “moron.” (Twitter, April 17, 2015)
Republican pollster Frank Luntz is a “total loser!” (Twitter, Aug. 3, 2014)
Megyn Kelly is a “bimbo.” (Twitter, Aug. 7, 2015)
“Truly weird Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky reminds me of a spoiled brat without a properly functioning brain.” (Twitter, Aug. 10, 2015)
In a 1999 interview with The Advocate, a gay magazine, Trump said about Pat Buchanan, “I read the things he had written about Hitler, Jews, blacks, gays, and Mexicans. I mean, I think it’s disgusting. … Clearly, he has a love affair with Adolf Hitler, and that’s sick. Buchanan actually said gay people had chosen ‘satan[ism] and suicide.'” When Buchanan ran on The Reform Party platform for president in 2000, The New York Times reported Trump saying, “The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani.”
Racist Comments
“I have black guys counting my money … I hate it. The only guys I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes all day.” (USA Today, May 20, 1991)
According to a book by a disgruntled employee, Trump once claimed, “Laziness is a trait in blacks.” The book was written by John R. O’Donnell, who worked directly for Trump in Vegas for three years and left on bad terms. Trump claims he only met O’Donnell three times. However, Trump admitted in a 1999 interview with Playboy, “The stuff O’Donnell wrote about me is probably true.”
How Trump Speaks of Women
“She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions,” Trump said on CNN about Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly after one of the GOP presidential debates. “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. (August 7, 2015)
During one of the GOP presidential debates, Trump said of Hillary Clinton getting beaten by Obama in 2008 for the Democratic presidential nomination: “She got schlonged …” (Dec. 21, 2015)
“Oftentimes when I was sleeping with one of the top women in the world I would say to myself, thinking about me as a boy from Queens, ‘Can you believe what I am getting?’” (Think Big: Make it Happen in Business and Life, 2008)
“When a man leaves a woman, especially when it was perceived that he has left for a piece of a**—a good one!— there are 50 percent of the population who will love the woman who was left.” (Vanity Fair, September 1990)
Women: “You have to treat ’em like sh**.” (New York magazine, Nov. 9, 1992)
“You know, it really doesn’t matter what they write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of a**.” (Esquire, 1991)
“My favorite part (of Pulp Fiction) is when Sam has his gun out in the diner and he tells the guy to tell his girlfriend to shut up. Tell that b*** to be cool. Say: B*** be cool. I love those lines.” (TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald, 2005)