Before being heralded on The View, ABC’s Good Morning America promoted Fred Trump III on Tuesday for his new memoir containing wild claims that not only has former President Trump repeatedly denigrated disabled people behind closed doors and wished his disabled nephew (and Fred’s son) would just die, but uttered the n-word when Fred was a child.
“First on GMA. Fred Trump III tells us about the man he calls atomic crazy, his uncle, Donald Trump,” bragged fill-in co-host Rebecca Jarvis in a tease.
Correspondent Aaron Katersky scored the interview with Fred to coincide with the memoir All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way, hitting shelves.
Katersky began with this howler of a lie: “The son of former President Trump’s late older brother says he wrote this to advocate for people with severe developmental disabilities like his adult son, William. He says this latest Trump tell all is no political hit job, but the full-on truth about his uncle and Republican nominee.”
The first question they aired was a softball too: “It says it’s The Trumps and How We Got This Way. What way? What’s the Trump way?”
Fred replied the “Trump way” is “[c]omplex and sometimes cruel” and while “[e]very family has their crazy uncle”, his isn’t just crazy, “but “atomic crazy”.
Fred elaborated on what it meant, saying he “sort of shudder[s]” now as “he’s done really horrific things to me” and wonders how the former President today “is...the same guy I knew”, but claims in the same answer the two “have always had a good relationship.”
This rolled into the first of two tall tales from Fred in which Trump wished disabled Americans — including his nephew, Michael — would die off so the rest of us could move on (click “expand”):
KATERSKY: After his uncle was elected president, Fred Trump says he saw an opportunity to advocate for the disabled.
TRUMP: I was in the Oval Office 12 times — about. That was our mission, to advocate for people with complex disabilities. It culminated in May of 2020. In the Oval Office, Donald was there and — and he was very gracious. Several other folks were there, including the group that we brought down. We dispersed. I was asked to go back and see Donald. He greeted me with his familiar, “hey, pal, how’s it going?” We sat down for a bit. And he just came out with, “these people, all the expenses, they should just die.” Ha! He’s talking about human beings who have complex issues and the first thing he could say was, “they should just die.”
KATERSKY: Fred claims this wasn’t isolated, describing a phone call to alert his uncle the medical fund set up by the family for his son William was running low, a fund his former president consistently replenished.
TRUMP: A couple years ago, I said — I called him. I said, “Donald, the fund is running out.” Without hesitation, he said, “your son doesn’t recognize you. Let him die and move to Florida.”
KATERSKY: Were you surprised?
TRUMP: Ha! That’s a great question. My response was, “no, Donald, he does recognize me” and said, I’ll — I’ll — “thanks” and hung up. Was I surprised? I don’t think you can hear something like that and not be surprised. But that is what he has become. It — it’s sad.
This immediately transitioned to the other dose of Resistance fan fiction and proof this wasn’t a genuine memoir about physically and mentally challenged Americans, but an anti-Trump smear.
“There’s a chapter that you write called the — The Race Card. What’s that about,” Katersky asked.
Fred then insisted without evidence he “was about 10 years old and I was at my grandparents house” when he could hear his uncle “screaming and I went down to the driveway of my grandparents house and there was his white El Dorado convertible with two slashes”.
It was then, Fred claimed, the now-former President “used the word — the n-word twice just saying who he thought probably had done this.”
Katersky totally bought it (click “expand”):
KATERSKY: You were 10 years old when these comments were allegedly uttered?
TRUMP: Mmhmm. Right.
KATERSKY: You sure you remember them?
TRUMP: Absolutely.
KATERSKY: He said he doesn’t use the word.
TRUMP: Okay. He did twice that day.
(....)
KATERSKY: Is he a racist?
TRUMP: He, at times, espouses things that people who I believe are racist espouses....I don’t believe he is a racist. I think that he uses people, whether they’re black or they’re — whoever can help him, he will use them.
Back on-camera, Katersky read from a Trump campaign statement and Fred’s hilarious insistence that he’d be “voting for Kamala Harris, but if his uncle wins, he would attend the inauguration if he’s invited.”
To see the relevant transcript from July 30, click here.
ABC’s Good Morning America
July 30, 2024
8:05 a.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: 8:11; Donald Trump’s Nephew Talks New Memoir]
REBECCA JARVIS: First on GMA. Fred Trump III tells us about the man he calls atomic crazy, his uncle, Donald Trump.
(....)
8:10 a.m. Eastern
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And we’re back with our GMA Cover Story. Donald Trump’s nephew, Fred Trump III. He’s out with a memoir All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way. Aaron Katersky spoke with him. Good morning, Aaron.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: GMA Cover Story; Donald Trump’s Nephew Talks New Memoir; Fred C. Trump III on His Uncle: “Atomic Crazy”, “Complex,” “Sometimes Cruel”]
AARON KATERSKY: Good morning to you, George. The son of former President Trump’s late older brother says he wrote this to advocate for people with severe developmental disabilities like his adult son, William. He says this latest Trump tell all is no political hit job, but the full-on truth about his uncle and Republican nominee. [TO TRUMP] It says it’s The Trumps and How We Got This Way. What way? What’s the Trump way?
FRED TRUMP III: Complex and sometimes cruel. And, 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.
KATERSKY: Atomic crazy?
TRUMP: Yes.
KATERSKY: What’s that mean?
TRUMP: It means he does things that, even as much as I know him when he’s out there now, I — I sort of shudder and say, is this the same guy I knew? What — what’s making him change? What — what got him this way? But, that all being said, I have always had a good relationship. But he’s done really horrific things to me, which some people will say, how — how could you still want to have a relationship with him? He’s — he’s my uncle. He’s — he’s family. And that means a lot.
KATERSKY: After his uncle was elected president, Fred Trump says he saw an opportunity to advocate for the disabled.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: GMA Cover Story; Donald Trump’s Nephew Talks New Memoir; What He Says the Former President Said About People With Complex Disabilities]
TRUMP: I was in the Oval Office 12 times — about. That was our mission, to advocate for people with complex disabilities. It culminated in May of 2020. In the Oval Office, Donald was there and — and he was very gracious. Several other folks were there, including the group that we brought down. We dispersed. I was asked to go back and see Donald. He greeted me with his familiar, “hey, pal, how’s it going?” We sat down for a bit. And he just came out with, “these people, all the expenses, they should just die.” Ha! He’s talking about human beings who have complex issues and the first thing he could say was, “they should just die.”
KATERSKY: Fred claims this wasn’t isolated, describing a phone call to alert his uncle the medical fund set up by the family for his son William was running low, a fund his former president consistently replenished.
TRUMP: A couple years ago, I said — I called him. I said, “Donald, the fund is running out.” Without hesitation, he said, “your son doesn’t recognize you. Let him die and move to Florida.”
KATERSKY: Were you surprised?
TRUMP: Ha! That’s a great question. My response was, “no, Donald, he does recognize me” and said, I’ll — I’ll — “thanks” and hung up. Was I surprised? I don’t think you can hear something like that and not be surprised. But that is what he has become. It — it’s sad.
KATERSKY: There’s a chapter that you write called the — The Race Card. What’s that about?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: GMA Cover Story; Donald Trump’s Nephew Talks New Memoir; Fred C. Trump III on Turbulent Relationship With His Famous Uncle]
TRUMP: I was about 10 years old and I was at my grandparents house, like, I — I was a lot. And Donald, I could hear him screaming. And I went down to the driveway of my grandparents house and there was his white El Dorado convertible with two slashes. Still remember it. And he had electrical tape cause the roof was black. He used the word — the n-word twice just saying who he thought probably had done this.
KATERSKY: You were 10 years old when these comments were allegedly uttered?
TRUMP: Mmhmm. Right.
KATERSKY: You sure you remember them?
TRUMP: Absolutely.
KATERSKY: He said he doesn’t use the word.
TRUMP: Okay. He did twice that day.
KATERSKY: You do write in the book about how people have labeled former President Trump a racist and some people feel he is. Some people say he’s not. And you — you ask the question, is he a racist? You don’t necessarily answer it.
TRUMP: Right.
KATERSKY: Is he a racist?
TRUMP: He, at times, espouses things that people who I believe are racist espouses. That’s the best I can answer that question.
KATERSKY: Say more.
TRUMP: I don’t believe he is a racist. I 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 — 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.
KATERSKY: In a statement, the Trump campaign said “this is completely fabricated and total fake news of the highest order. It is appalling a lie so blatantly disgusting can be printed in mea. Anyone who knows President Trump knows he would never use such language and false stories like these have been thoroughly debunked.” Now, Fred Trump told us he’s voting for Kamala Harris, but if his uncle wins, he would attend the inauguration if he’s invited. All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way is out today, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay, Aaron. Thanks very much.
