“Those People Should Just Die”: Trump’s Nephew on How the Ex-President Sees Disabled Americans

Fred Trump III, Donald Trump’s nephew, very much hopes for a bipartisan national effort to better support the needs of disabled people, a passion driven by being the father of a disabled son. That’s why he tried—when his uncle was president of the United States—to use his family ties to push for disability rights.

Fred did manage to have a White House meeting with disability advocates that his uncle Donald attended. Later on, he was met with comments by Donald that Fred “should just let” his son, Donald Trump’s grandnephew, “die”—an anecdote he recounts in a new book, All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way.

The former president, Fred Trump says, has never met his grandnephew William. In fact, he’s never even tried to. Donald isn’t the only Trump family member to share that attitude, according to Fred—who, perhaps unsurprisingly, doesn’t think “anything positive happened” for disability rights under Trump’s administration.

Fred Trump’s disability rights goals, including more accessible, better medical options—especially training doctors to treat nonspeaking people like his son—didn’t see progress under the Trump administration. Under a potential Kamala Harris administration, the younger Trump hopes they might.

Fred Trump III talked to Mother Jones about his advocacy work, the way Donald Trump treated his son, and why he supports Kamala Harris’ run for office. He’ll be “campaigning for her if I’m asked,” Trump says, “because I know she will be a champion of the disabled community.”

Before your uncle made his comments about your son, and people like him, how did he treat William?

Donald has never asked, and not once has ever met William, who is 25 years old now. Never. He has asked from time to time, “How’s William? How are the kids?”—I have two other adult kids—but never, “Hey, you know, can I meet him?” Frankly, he’s missed out on the ability to know William, who I consider the most courageous and inspirational person I have ever met.

Is that typical of other people in your family as well, or is that just a decision Donald made?

Neither my two aunts nor my other uncle, Robert, ever asked to meet William. William was in Mount Sinai [Hospital] in the neonatal intensive care unit for three weeks, within a mile radius of where they all lived, and they never visited William. In fact, they never called about William to see how he was doing while we were there.

Fred, his son William, and a golden retriever.Courtesy Fred Trump III

You met with people in the White House to advocate for better transitions from pediatric to adult care and more. How did that meeting come about?

When Donald was inaugurated, I knew that would be an opportunity for me and my wife, Lisa, to try to use his position as president to the benefit of folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The first person we reached out to is my cousin Ivanka, who had, as you know, a role within the administration. She was great, and set us up with Ben Carson, who was the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, because, as you may know, housing issues for disabled [people] is a very tough issue.

“All those expenses—those people should just die.”

It culminated in a meeting with just brilliant people who have dedicated their lives to issues regarding the complex disability community in May 2020, [when Covid] was raging. Just to let Donald know, I had called him and said, “Look, I really need you to listen to this. Okay?” He did, and we spent 45 minutes [in the meeting]. It dispersed, he called me back in, we chatted for a minute, and he goes, “Those people, all those expenses—those people should just die.”

In the greater context, in our country, people may not have that extreme reaction—but the disabled community gets short shrift in this country, and I don’t think people understand that. One of the most important things is squaring away how to take care of caregivers, funding for better caregivers so they can live their lives, [and] also better training. I’m going through this in my town right now, where people are fending off just using money that was given for ADA work to widen door frames and such. A lot of people don’t understand it unless it hits them personally.

Was there anything that you heard after the meeting, besides what your uncle had said, where staffers made any effort to listen to you?

No, I don’t think anything positive happened within the administration, which is partially why—there are many reasons why—I’ll be voting for Kamala Harris, and campaigning for her if I’m asked, because I know she will be a champion of the disabled community.

You mentioned that Ivanka set up this meeting with you. I’m curious what your cousins’ role have been in your son’s life.

Eric and Donnie were the only family members to ever meet William. We invited them up to our house, Lisa and I did, separately. Donnie showed up with Vanessa, and I believe with his first two kids. Eric was with Lara before they were married. They both came, we spent time together, and it was nice.

They understood. They could see William for who William was, who, again, is a wonderful young man. I will give them absolute credit. They have their own charities that they’re involved with, and that’s fantastic. I know Eric was very much involved with St. Jude [Children’s Research Hospital], and I give him kudos for that. Ivanka has her life, [and] she was helpful in other ways.

“I don’t think anything positive happened within the administration [on disability].”

Do you have concerns about how your uncle would represent disabled Americans in a second term based on how he’s treated your son?

Let me answer it this way. [Tonight], there’s a Zoom call from the Harris campaign called Disabled Voters for Harris. Imagine a Disabled Voters for Trump. I don’t think he or his campaign would care about doing that.

The attitudes of some people in this country toward the disabled is very disturbing—[like] when Donald mocked the New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski. That was bad enough, but the fact that the crowd cheered him on was disgusting.

Given the opportunity, would you meet with Vice President Harris before the election—or if she wins, after—about how the White House could better support people with complex health needs?

It would be my honor to do so. This is not an ego thing, [but] I am going to have a national platform with this book coming out, and I’m going to use that to the best of my ability to advocate on behalf of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Is there anything that you would like to say to your uncle about how he views your son, and how he views disabled people in general?

It’s not just disabled [people] that he demeans. It’s people that he thinks are lesser than him. If you have that power that he had, and he thinks he has, why not do stuff for the greater good? I know it’s a trite expression, but isn’t it just easier to try to help people instead of helping yourself?

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.