In a new book, the nephew of Donald Trump claims he heard the former president and current Republican presidential nominee use the N-word decades before he entered the political scene.
In his tell-all book, “All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got to Be This Way,” Fred Trump recalls his uncle using the racist slur in the 1970s. According to the New York Times, Fred said Donald Trump’s car had been damaged, and he was “searching for someone to blame.”
A book excerpt of Trump’s alleged remarks reads: “‘Niggers,’ I recall him saying disgustedly. ‘Look what the niggers did.’”
Though Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung denied the claim, telling the Times it’s “completely fabricated and total fake news of the highest order,” Fred Trump’s account is the latest of a series of claims about Donald Trump’s use of the N-word and other racist remarks.
In May, theGrio reported that former producer of “The Apprentice” Bill Pruitt recounted in a Slate article an incident on the set in which Trump used the N-word when referring to the reality competition show’s Black finalist, Kwame Jackson.
Pruitt recalled Trump saying, “…would America buy a n— winning?” while contemplating who should win the 2004 series, which resulted in a $250,000 cash prize and employment with the Trump Organization.
A week later, Jackson told theGrio, “There has been a history and a track record and a certain repetition of racism over Trump’s career.”
As president, Trump reportedly referred to African nations as “s–thole countries” in 2018, threatened to use “vicious dogs” against Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, and refused to denounce white supremacy groups, instead telling them to “stand back and stand by.” As a businessman, Trump called for the death penalty for the innocent Black and brown Exonerated Five and settled a lawsuit after being accused of racial discrimination against Black tenants.
The latest revelation of Trump’s alleged use of the N-word comes as the 2024 presidential election took a major turn this week; he is now poised to face Kamala Harris, a Black and South Asian woman, in the general election.
Harris, the current vice president of the United States, is already facing racist and sexist attacks from Republicans who have called her a “DEI hire” and challenged her intellectualism, despite being a former prosecutor and attorney general in the state of California.
“We know that [Trump] has a penchant for racist rhetoric,” said Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross, who told theGrio while it matters that the latest claim comes from a Trump family member, “we didn’t necessarily need to have a family member go on record.”
She added, “When the right calls Kamala Harris, essentially, a DEI pick, that’s a pseudonym for the N-word.”
Cross predicted that the racism and misogyny coming from the Republican Party will “be the thing that brings the party down.” She explained, “America is more diverse than it has ever been, and there are people who are very uncomfortable with the rhetoric that is coming out of the right.”
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Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), told theGrio she believes Republican attacks on Harris are the result of “fear” that Democrats have a “very strong candidate and a very qualified candidate who will be able to prosecute the case against Donald Trump.” She continued, “And at the same time, share the contrast in the two visions for this country.”
“I think they may be struggling to figure out how to define her, and we already know how to define her; as a leader, as somebody who’s ultra-qualified, and someone who will be able to get the job done,” said the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate.
Antjuan Seawright, another Democratic strategist who advises national campaigns, said he thinks it’s ironic that “no one called Nikki Haley a DEI hire when she was a candidate for the Republican nominee.” He told theGrio, “It’s so important for [Republicans] to call it out as well because they know it’s racist [and] they know it’s misogynistic.”
As for Trump and his alleged use of the N-word, Seawright said, “We know that Donald Trump has been open and honest about some of the red-meat, racist right-wing language.”
“You can only imagine what may have been said or is said in private,” he added. “Racism is not new to him, it’s true to him.”
