Like his father, Donald Trump Jr. has a history of engaging in controversial conversations with radio shock-jocks, a review of his appearances on various programs by CNN’s KFile reveals.
On shows like “Opie and Anthony,” the now-defunct “The Six Pack,” and “Opie with Jim Norton,” the younger Trump made a joke about the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, expressed regret he could no longer mock overweight people, invoked Arab stereotypes, and joked about child beauty contestants being abused by their parents.
The Trump son also noted there were hours of footage of the “The Apprentice” left on the cutting room floor that would appeal to those with a “sick sense of humor.”
For decades, Donald Trump appeared on radio shock jock Howard Stern’s daily program, making controversial comments about current events, women, and sex. Trump Jr. also found his voice on shock jock radio shows — often noting his lack of political correctness when sharing his opinion about politics and culture.
Trump Jr. has been a passionate advocate and defender of his father during the presidential election, dismissing critics who take issues with the GOP nominee’s heated rhetoric and highly personal attacks on opponents.
In some exchanges on the radio, Trump Jr. echoed his father’s rhetoric, saying in one appearance that a “disproportionate amount” of undocumented immigrants were bad for society.
A Trump campaign spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
On the Aurora Shooting:
In July 2012, on the same day a gunman killed 12 people at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, Trump Jr. joked about still giving the movie “two thumbs up.”
Trump Jr. made the comment on “Opie and Anthony” after soundbites were played of witnesses speaking about the tragedy.
“Everything was going good until, uh, we saw gas and sparks, and sounded like really strong fireworks, uh, and then you just hear people yelling and actually just a few, uh, rows away from me a girl gets up holding her jaw. I guess she had got shot,” a witness said.
“Overall I give the movie two thumbs up,” Trump Jr. exclaimed in reaction.
On not being able to mock overweight people:
Trump Jr., in a January 2012 appearance on “Opie and Anthony,” lamented that he couldn’t make fun of people who are overweight due to political correctness.
“By the way you can’t, you can’t even make fat jokes now without, like, there’s a whole segment of people that like, that’s almost the worst one like, it’s easier to, like, do a racial thing, than it is a fat one because everyone knows they’re fat and they get really offended that–,” he said.
“Well it’s a disease,” a host said.
“Fat people get — everything’s a disease,” Trump Jr. responded.
“Yeah they’re offended, until they lose weight,” said another host.
“Laziness is a disease too,” Trump Jr. said.
The comments came during a discussion on a mayor in Connecticut who said he would help Latino citizens of his town by eating tacos.
Trump Jr. said it wasn’t possible to say anything as a politician without being criticized.
“That’s the problem with, I mean, you can’t say anything anymore without them being criticized,” he said. “You know, we’ve gotten to a point where you can’t be a politician and actually say what you’re thinking because someone’s gonna get offended and god forbid, like everyone’s so sensitive now, it’s ridiculous.”
Assuming Arabs are named “Mohammed” or “Ali”:
In an early January 2012 appearance on “Opie and Anthony,” Trump Jr. discussed the assassination of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, who was a founding member of Hamas’ military wing, assuming all Arab people were named “Mohammed” or “Ali.”
“I love the operation they ran in Dubai,” said a host. “Somebody from Hamas.”
“Yeah, no, exactly,” Trump Jr. said.
“I don’t know the guy’s name. I wouldn’t make up a Middle Eastern name. It was somebody in Dubai,” said the host.
“Muhammad something or other,” Trump Jr. said.
“He had a beard. He wasn’t nice to his wife,” a host added.
“Yeah, Ali,” Trump Jr. said.
Mocking treatment of children in beauty pageants:
In an other exchange in early January of 2012 on “Opie and Anthony,” Trump Jr. joked about potential child abuse at the beauty pageants depicted in the TLC series, “Toddlers and Tiaras.”
“How, but how do they know they’re not damaging these, I mean how do you not know you’re, you’re…” said one host.
“It’s gotta be damaging,” another host said.
“Scarring these children,” said a host.
“They’re, they’re yelling at them,” said one host.
“Look at all the empty seats,” said a host.
“Forcing them not to eat,” Trump Jr. said.
“They yell at the kids like, yeah ‘You didn’t do good, you forgot to turn! You forgot your turn!’ It’s like ahh, the kid just goes ‘Ahh’ … And then they do these interviews where it’s like ‘Oh she loves doing pageants it’s her whole life,” said one host.
“The kids, they’re crying,” Trump Jr. said.
“The kid’s crying going, ‘I want to go home,'” added the host.
“I just wanna play with Barbie,” Trump Jr. said.
“‘She beats me when you’re not here,'” said the host.
“She’s like limping,” added Trump Jr., mocking a child’s voice. “‘Help me, help me.'”
Trump Jr. added of the moms at beauty pageants “they’re all fat. Ugly.”
On ‘Apprentice’ footage:
In an appearance on the defunct Sirius XM show “The Six Pack,” Trump Jr. said there was footage on the The Apprentice cutting room that would appeal to those with a “sick sense of humor.”
“So walk us through the boardroom,” a host asked. “How long does that entire process take?
“You know, and people always ask because it’s actually an interesting question, I mean, some are quick,” responds Trump Jr. “Some are basically almost what you see and others, you know, there’s boardrooms that I’ve been in for, that go for 4 hours. Because you know again, none of it’s really scripted and sometimes these guys go after each other and you know, you can only see a certain amount of time because it’s all we’re left on television.”
“You sort of have to see who ends up getting fired, who buries themselves in there and sort of edit backwards to make everything relevant. You know, I’d love to, eventually, one day, just do like an outtake scene movie from the boardroom because I mean, I’ve seen so much amazing stuff that was just be- you know, if you have a sick sense of humor like I do,” he continued.
“You know, it, it’s sort of amazing material, um, it just may not be relevant to the outcome, um, of you know, whatever happens on the episode so you don’t get to see it. It ends up on the cutting room floor so it, it’s sort of a shame, but you know, those things, they can go on. I mean, they average probably, at least, two hours, maybe two and half-hours average. Some go longer, some go a little bit less but you know, there’s a lot of stuff going on. It’s pretty intense.”
On undocumented immigrants:
Trump Jr. defended his father’s rhetoric on immigrants in a June 2015 appearance on “Opie with Jim Norton.” The appearance occurred shortly after his father’s announcement speech where he said some Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals.
“He’s not talking about people that are just here doing, he’s talking about people, again, there’s a big element coming across and if you speak to people that are on the Texas border — and he said it very clearly — ‘listen, I’m sure there’s some great people too just trying to do better for themselves. I understand that,'” he said in a 2015 appearance shortly after his father announced his candidacy.
“But, you know there’s a disproportionate amount of people that are bad relative to society coming across and doing the same thing and we can’t just arbitrarily let everyone in here,” he continued. “And honestly, I don’t think that anyone with a straight face — then again, if they’re playing politics — can with a straight face say that that’s not a reasonable stance I mean it’s ridiculous.”
On Dionne Warwick:
In March of 2011, while promoting Celebrity Apprentice, Trump Jr. expressed a desire to call singer Dionne Warwick “a bitch.” Trump Jr. began to mouth the word, but hesitated, explaining he wasn’t sure if he could say the word on the radio.
“Well that’s the interesting thing, you know, people come on the show because, you know, they’re often times trying to rebuild some of their image and everything, but if they, you know, if they’re acting like a b–, just a bad person, people are like, ‘I can’t believe they’re such a– ,'” Trump Jr. said.
“You wanted to say bitch,” a host interjected
“I wanted to say it then I realized,” Trump Jr. responded
“You wanted to say bitch,” a host said.
“Then I was thinking wait a second, I’m on radio, and I was like wait a second we’re on satellite so I can probably say it,” Trump Jr. added.
“At least we know you want to say bitch,” said the host.
“I did wanna say it,” he said. “No listen, she was very nice to us and everything like that, but getting along with the people and trying to do the work, she wanted nothing to do with it and so it actually does her a disservice because if you’re going to go on the show and you can’t kind of play the game…”
On President Obama:
In another January 2012 appearance, Trump Jr. accused Obama of being racist by labeling others racists.
“I mean, so many people, you know, they’re just worried about, you can’t say something bad about Obama, not because you actually have a strong stance against his platform, but because that makes you a racist,” Trump Jr. said. “Like, that in itself is racism. Like, it’s so, you know, it’s so ridiculous and that’s what we’ve become, and he’s played that card very well. And by the way, if I was in his shoes I’d be playing that card too because you can get away with it in this country and we allow it.”
When one of the hosts defended Obama’s foreign policy, Trump Jr. said, “I didn’t realize that you were a commie! That’s, that’s nice. I’m just kidding, I’m just kidding.”