Donald Trump is currently being tried criminally and is facing allegations that he falsified business documents to pay porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about a rumored affair. In his defense, he told journalists earlier this month that this case is somehow an “assault on America.”
That wasn’t the first time he played victim when he is, in fact, one of the most villainous presidents this country has ever seen.
Here are 13 of Trump’s wildest quotes.
On August 11, 2017, Neo Nazis, the Alt-Right, and white supremacists came together for the “Unite The Right” rally as they marched through the University of Virginia campus with torches in Charlottesville, Va. James Fields rammed his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters, killing Heather Heyer and injuring several others. Trump, who was president during this time, stated “You also had some very fine people on both sides” when asked about the rally.
“You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down, of to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.”
In January 2018, then-President Donald Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as “sh*thole countries” during a meeting with a bipartisan group of senators at the White House. According to a Democratic aide, when the group discussed immigration from Africa Trump asked why America would want immigrants from “all these sh*thole countries” and that the U.S. should more migrants coming from places like Norway.
Trump later denied the remarks by tweeting: “The language used by me at the...meeting was tough, but this was not the language used.”
In 2015, Trump kicked off his presidential campaign from the Trump Tower in Manhattan and immediately started with racist remarks about immigration. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people,” Trump stated. “But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting.”
In August 2020, Trump warned people that “the only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.” After he lost to Joe Biden, he made this assertion more frequently with no proof. “This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election,” Trump stated. “We want all voting to stop.”
Trump, who is the first president to undergo a criminal trial, has made it a point to target Black district attorneys — Alvin Bragg and Fani Willis — with racist remarks for prosecuting him. Terms he has used to describe them include “animal” and “rabid.” Of course, Trump also called them “racist.” He also attacked Attorney General Letitia James.“I’m under investigation. This time it’s civil investigation by another racist in reverse who also campaigned on, ‘I will get Trump, I will get him.’ This was her campaign,” Trump said about James.
In 2019, Trump posted multiple tweets that targeted a group of House Democrats: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. He stated “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came” before telling the U.S. government how to handle its problems.
For years, Trump has insisted that he is a victim of “witch hunts” when it comes to his criminal prosecutions. “It’s a scam, it’s a sham. It’s a witch hunt and a disgrace, he stated regarding his New York fraud trial. When it comes to his current hush money trial, Trump has insisted to potential donors that prosecutors have “INDICTED me in yet another witch hunt regarding documents that I had the RIGHT to declassify as President of the United States.”
Last month, Trump was in court for a hearing in connection to his criminal case involving an alleged hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels. He used his social media platform to share an anonymous post comparing Trump to Jesus regarding separate civil business fraud case, sharing the Bible verse, Psalm 109:3–8.
“Received this morning — Beautiful, thank you! ‘It’s ironic that Christ walked through His greatest persecution the very week they are trying to steal your property from you. But have you seen this verse...?’” he wrote.
Last year, Trump quoted Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” to state that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of America. He denied knowing the origins of the phrase, but doubled down on it anyway. “They are poisoning the blood of our country. And I’m not talking about a specific group, and I never read ‘Mein Kampf,’ and I have no idea what Hitler said other than I’ve seen on the news... And I will tell you, a big percentage of the people coming in are from prisons and from mental institutions and are terrorists. And we cannot let that…and that is poisoning our country.”
In an attempt to (sadly) win over Black voters, in February Trump said he can relate to us being treated unfairly by the criminal justice system. “I got indicted for nothing, for something that is nothing,” Trump said at the Black Conservative Federation’s annual gala. “They were doing it because it’s election interference. And then I got indicted for a second time, a third time and a fourth time, and a lot of people said that that’s why the Black people like me because they’ve been hurt so badly and discriminated against.”
“I’m being indicted for you, the Black population. The mug shot, we’ve all seen the mug shot. And you know who embraced it more than anybody else? The Black population. It’s incredible. You see Black people walking around with my mug shot on the shirts.”
Oh, the delusion. In April, Trump told journalists the hush money trial was “an assault on the U.S.” He appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court and stated: “This is an assault on America, nothing like this has happened ever before. Every legal scholar said this case is nonsense. It should have never been brought. It does not deserve anything like this.”
He continued, “People who don’t necessarily like or follow Donald Trump said this is an outrage. This is a political persecution, this is persecution like never before.” There were no examples provided of said outrage for Trump being accused of falsifying business documents to pay a porn star he allegedly slept with.
Despite a history of being racist, whether it was through his birtherism conspiracy about Barack Obama to his immigration policies Trump has lied about what he has done for Black people. “My administration is delivering for African Americans like never before. No President has done more for our Black community,” he exclaimed numerous times.
“My Admin has done more for the Black Community than any President since Abraham Lincoln,” Trump also has said on X. However, aside from Lincoln that credit goes to Lyndon B. Johnson who signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. During his presidency, hate crimes increased exponentially.
In a now notorious 2005 “Access Hollywood” interview which came to light during the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump told then-host Billy Bush about grabbing and kissing women without consent. “You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait,” Trump said on the tape. “And when you’re a star they let you do it ... You can do anything...Grab them by the p***y. You can do anything.”
Somehow, his disturbing remarks didn’t quell his quest for the White House and his victory that year. Years later, he doubled down on his remarks.