Donald Trump told his nephew he should let his disabled son die, then “move down to Florida”, the nephew writes in a new book, calling the comment “appalling”.
“Wait!” Fred C Trump III writes. “What did he just say? That my son doesn’t recognise me? That I should just let him die?
“Did he really just say that?”
The shocking exchange is described in All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way, which will be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy.
The book also includes a description of the former US president and Republican nominee using the N-word, news that dropped into a presidential election in which Trump faces Kamala Harris, the first woman of colour to be vice-president.
On Wednesday morning, Time published an extract detailing Trump’s callous remark about his disabled great-nephew.
It came days after family members at the Republican national convention portrayed Trump as a “very caring and loving” grandfather and family man.
But Trump family history is complicated.
Fred C Trump III is the son of Fred Trump Jr, Donald Trump’s older brother who died aged 43 in 1981. A successful New York real estate executive in his own right, Fred Trump III is with his wife Lisa a campaigner for rights for disabled people like their son, William.
In 2020, Fred Trump III’s sister, Mary Trump, published her own tell-all memoir, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. Fred Trump III distanced himself from that book but it included the story of how Donald Trump and his siblings effectively disinherited Fred Trump III and Mary Trump, then cut off funding for William’s care.
The case was settled in 2001. In his own book, Fred Trump III describes a call to his uncle after the White House funeral of Robert Trump, the then president’s younger brother, in 2020.
Fred Trump III says Donald Trump was then “the only one” of the older Trumps still “contributing consistently” to William’s care.
He contacted his uncle even though he “really didn’t look forward to these calls” and “in many ways ... felt I was asking for money I should have originally received from my grandfather” – Fred Trump Sr, the New York construction magnate whose will prompted the family feud.
Fred Trump III says he called Donald Trump after seeing him at Briarcliff, a family golf club in Westchester county, New York. He says he described his son’s needs, increasing costs for his care, and “some blowback” from Trump’s siblings.
“Donald took a second as if he was thinking about the whole situation,” Fred Trump III writes.
“‘I don’t know,’” he finally said, letting out a sigh. ‘He doesn’t recognise you. Maybe you should just let him die and move down to Florida.’”
Fred Trump III writes: “Wait! What did he just say? That my son doesn’t recognise me? That I should just let him die? Did he really just say that? That I should let my son die ... so I could move down to Florida? Really?”
Fred Trump III says he shouldn’t have been surprised, since he had recently heard his uncle say similar in an Oval Office meeting with doctors and advocates for disabled rights.
At that meeting, also in 2020, Trump “sounded interested and even concerned”, Fred Trump III writes.
“I thought he had been touched by what the doctor and advocates in the meeting had just shared about their journey with their patients and their own family members. But I was wrong.”
“‘Those people ...’ Donald said, trailing off. ‘The shape they’re in, all the expenses, maybe those kinds of people should just die.’”
On that occasion, Fred Trump III writes, he “truly did not know what to say. He was talking about expenses. We were talking about human lives ... I turned and walked away.”
On the later call about William, Fred Trump III writes, his uncle said the same thing: “Only that time, it was other people’s children who should die. This time, it was my son.”
Fred Trump III says he pushed back but avoided an argument. Nonetheless, he says “Donald’s comment was appalling”, adding: “It hurt to hear him say that.”
“Acceptance and tolerance would only come with public education and awareness,” Fred Trump III writes. “Donald might never understand this.”
