president_trump_slings_arrows

Did Donald Trump Say He Would ‘Gladly Take… Slings and Arrows’ of Criticism for His Supporters?

On January 21 2019, the Facebook page “We Love President Donald J. Trump” shared the following quotation meme:

Beneath an image of Donald Trump, the text said:

They knew they would throw every lie they could at me and my family and my loved ones. They knew they would stop at nothing to try to stop me. But I never knew as bad as it would be. I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious. Nevertheless, I take all of these slings and arrows gladly for you. I take them for our movement so that we can have our country back.” President Trump

The image was shared in January 2019, but it did not include any links to a source or context for the purported comments. However, we located a passage in an October 2016 NPR transcript, “TRANSCRIPT: Donald Trump’s Speech Responding To Assault Accusations.”

That set of remarks was delivered by Trump, then the Republican frontrunner, in October 2016 in response to the distribution of old Access Hollywood footage depicting “extremely lewd” comments he made in 2005:

And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.

Responding to the 2005 remarks in an October 2016 prepared speech, Trump said in part:

He’s led a very divided nation and it’s only gotten worse. And the last thing our country needs is four more years of Barack Obama, believe me. I’ve seen firsthand the corruption and the sickness that has taken over our politics. You’ve seen it and I’ve seen it and we’re all watching together.

They knew they would throw every lie they could at me and my family and my loved ones. They knew they would stop at nothing to try to stop me. But I never knew as bad as it would be. I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious.

Nevertheless, I take all of these slings and arrows gladly for you.

I take them for our movement so that we can have our country back.

This quote is correctly attributed. Whether it is true, however, is a matter of opinion.