In an August 11, 2020 interview with Fox Sports personality and OutKick founder Clay Travis, Trump suggested that men were insulted at Biden’s decision to choose a female candidate to run as Vice President.
TRUMP: Well, I think that I would be inclined to go a different route than what he’s done, doing it the way he, first of all, he roped himself into a certain group of people, which is fine.
TRAVIS: He said he had to pick a woman.
TRUMP: He said that. Some people would say that men are insulted by that. Some people would say it’s fine. I don’t know.
In a July 21, 2020 press conference, Trump answered a question about Ghislaine Maxwell by saying,
I don’t know, I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly. I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well, whatever it is.
The week prior, Maxwell was denied bail as she awaited trial for recruiting underage girls for billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein allegedly killed himself in prison after being charged with sex trafficking.
Trump and Melania with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, FL, Feb. 12, 2000. Davidoff Studios / Getty Images
Trump again said he wished her well in an August 4 interview.
She’s now in jail. Yeah, I wish her well. I’d wish you well. I’d wish a lot of people well. Good luck. Let them prove somebody was guilty.
By contrast, Trump referred to NFL player Colin Kaepernick as a “son of a bitch” for taking a knee to protest police violence. He also based a great degree of his 2016 campaign on promising to lock up political opponent Hillary Clinton for alleged crimes, though he explained he didn’t mean it after winning the election.
In a 1992 issue of New York Magazine, a letter was published in defense of Donald Trump and his relationship with women.
Based on the fact that I work for Donald Trump as his secretary—and therefore know him well—I think he treats women with great respect, contrary to what Julie Baumgold implied in her article … I do not believe any man in America gets more calls from women wanting to see him, meet him, or go out with him. The most beautiful women, the most successful women—all women love Donald Trump.
Carolin Gallego December 7, 1992
No record of a Carolin Gallego in the employ of Trump has been found, and longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen said he’d never heard of her. The similarity between the letter and Trump’s own speech pattern has been noted by journalists and commentators.
In his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback, Trump wrote, “I only have one regret in the women department – that I never had the opportunity to court Lady Diana Spencer. I met her on a number of occasions. I couldn’t help but notice how she moved people. She lit up the room with her charm, her presence. She was a genuine princess – a dream lady.”
Princess Diana in 1997, the year of her death. Wikipedia
Trump also spoke about Princess Diana on-air during interviews with Howard Stern. During one such conversation after her death, Stern asked, “You could’ve nailed her?” Trump replied, “I think I could’ve.”
Stern and Trump also joked that Princess Diana would’ve needed an HIV test before Trump would’ve slept with her, referring to an earlier point in their conversation about HIV and dating.
“Hey Lady Di, would you go to the doctor?” Stern joked.
“Go back over to my Lexington Avenue doctor,” Trump added as though addressing the late princess. “We wanna give you a little checkup.”
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Nadia Murad visited the White House to speak with Trump and plead for help for her Yazidi people. She had been tortured and sold into sex slavery by ISIS, and even after ISIS’ demise, 95,000 Yazidi refugees couldn’t return home because of ongoing struggles between the Kurdish and Iraqi governments.
Trump had been disinterested throughout the meeting, even as Murad recounted, “All this happened to me. They killed my mom, my six brothers. They left behind them.” Trump asked, “Where are they now?” Murad replied, “They killed them. They are in the mass grave in Sinjar, and I’m still fighting just to live in safe. Please do something.” “I know the area very well,” Trump replied. “I’m going to look into it very strongly.”
Trump then asked why she received the Nobel Prize, about which he had to again explain what she had endured.
The Yazidi people and their plight became worldwide news in 2014, when they were forced to flee their homes in the face of an ISIS offensive. 40,000 men, women, and children were surrounded in the Sinjar Mountains until the Obama administration authorized air-strikes and drops of aid to prevent genocide.
When asked about what he expects of state governors after Trump previously said they should treat him well if they want assistance, Trump replied, “I want them to be appreciative.” He went on to say how the Washington governor Jay Inslee was a failed candidate that continually “chirps” to the administration. He also continued to reference Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer as “the woman in Michigan.”
Referencing Pence, head of the COVID-19 task force, Trump continued, “I say Mike, don’t call the governor of Washington, you’re wasting your time with him. Don’t call the woman in Michigan. It doesn’t make any difference what happens. You know what I say? If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call.”
“The federal government’s done a hell of a job,” he’d remarked during the conference.
After professional wrestler Maria Kanellis said another contestant “came in our dressing room and you took a crap and left a stench in the room.” Trump remarked, “Isn’t it sort of gross bringing that up? It’s, like, disgusting. This is my boardroom. It’s not a locker room. Maria, you’re fired.”
Trump infamously was recorded talking about groping women in a leaked video from a 2005 Access Hollywood interview, which he downplayed as “locker room talk.”
Donald Trump in 2010: “This is my boardroom. It's not a locker room. Maria, you’re fired.” ¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/UlsP9Xjg7F
After Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg was selected to be Time’s Person of the Year for 2019, Trump responded over Twitter:
So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill! https://t.co/M8ZtS8okzE
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) December 12, 2019
Thunberg didn’t reply directly, but updated her Twitter bio to read, “A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend.”
Trump grew angry when it began taking too long for the security to eject the female protester, mocking the guard with arm gestures for being “too politically correct” in not being rough enough in removing her. He said to the crowd, “I’ll tell you, law enforcement is so great. That particular guy wanted to be so politically correct. We don’t want to be politically correct. I don’t know who he was. He didn’t do the greatest job.”
