Mom Jones illustration; Niall Carson/PA Wire/Zuma; Courtesy Fred Trump
Donald Trump’s nephew Fred Trump III doesn’t count on to be invited to his uncle’s inauguration this time round. He did, in spite of everything, write a ebook exposing a few of the president-elect’s unsavory conduct, together with the Donald telling Fred he ought to let his disabled son, William, die.
However Fred Trump nonetheless plans to spend time down in Washington, DC, within the coming years to push for progress on incapacity points. “I joke that there are two issues Donald and I share: the love of golf, and we’re each relentless,” Fred mentioned. That relentlessness additionally led him to begin an advocacy nonprofit to battle for improved take care of individuals with mental and developmental disabilities, along with his spouse, Lisa.
In an interview with Mom Jones, Fred mentioned that his uncle’s growing utilization of each the phrase “mentally disabled” and the R-word to explain his opponent Kamala Harris within the weeks main as much as the election mirrored his dangerous views on incapacity.
Remarking on Harris’ intelligence in response, Fred mentioned, nonetheless wasn’t a lot of a critique of Trump: “It doesn’t matter. You don’t say it to anyone.”
And it’s not simply Donald that Fred is irate about: it’s the response of his uncle’s supporters. They laughed repeatedly at Trump turning incapacity right into a merciless joke, Fred famous, similar to they laughed when Trump mocked New York Occasions reporter Serge Kovaleski’s incapacity in 2015.
Fred believes the Harris-Walz marketing campaign might have pushed way more on incapacity points; he witnessed the marketing campaign drop the ball when it got here to participating with incapacity organizations, he mentioned, and as a fellow father of a teenager with a incapacity, Fred was disheartened that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz didn’t tackle the difficulty throughout his debate with Vice President-elect JD Vance.
“Tim Walz doesn’t even point out the phrase incapacity,” Fred mentioned. “You’ve got a toddler who has disabilities, who grew to become such a guiding gentle throughout the conference, and I used to be there to witness that.”
However not like some individuals against Donald Trump’s presidency, Fred finds questioning the election itself a waste of time. As a substitute, he urged, individuals against the brand new administration ought to swiftly “get engaged for no matter trigger is vital to you.”