Donald Trump’s nephew, Fred Trump III, said his uncle is “atomic crazy,” in an interview Tuesday morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” adding that although he heard the former president use the n-word, he doesn’t consider him a racist — just someone who “uses people.”
Fred Trump III, the son of the GOP candidate’s late older brother, appeared on the morning show to promote his book called “All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way." He confirmed during his interview that he plans to no longer be invited to Trump golf courses and plans to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
“Within every family—people know this—families are complicated. Every family has their crazy uncle. My Uncle Donald is atomic crazy. And… he has put his mark on the family history,” Fred Trump told ABC News.
In his book, Trump’s nephew details hearing his angry uncle use the n-word twice after his El Dorado convertible was slashed in a driveway when he was 10 years old. The Trump way was to be "complex and sometimes cruel," Fred Trump III told ABC News' Aaron Katersky.
Donald Trump denied the occurrence and his campaign called the allegations “total fake news of the highest order,” the Daily Beast reported.
When Katersky asked Trump III if his uncle was a racist, the nephew initially tried to dodge the question by answering rather diplomatically: “He, at time[s], espouses things that people who I believe are racist espouses. That’s the best I can answer that question.”
However, when pushed he said, “I don’t believe he’s a racist,” adding “ I just think that he uses people, whether they’re Black or they’re... whoever can help him he will use them. And, you know, call it racist or not, I don’t believe in that. He uses them as props. And when he gets what he needs out of them—votes—he’ll cast them aside.”
While the former president’s nephew chose to sidestep the question regarding his uncle’s alleged racism, he did seem to confirm Trump’s ableist remarks.
Fred Trump III — whose son has some developmental disabilities — said he used Trump's presidency to advocate for people with complicated disabilities and visited the Capitol quite a few times, including in May 2020 when he brought along a group of disabled individuals along.
While Trump seemed “very gracious” with the visitors, in his personal chat with his nephew he shared how he really felt. “And he just came out with, ‘These people, all the expenses. They should just die,’” Fred Trump III told ABC. “He’s talking about human beings who have complex issues, and the first thing he could say was they should just die.”
