Donald Trump didn’t say that Republicans are the dumbest group of voters in a 1998 interview — a claim that surfaced again on Reddit in June 2020, after doing the rounds in 2015:
The quote purportedly came from a 1998 People magazine story about Trump’s political aspirations, and it spread virally on social media in October 2015. A popular quote meme included an image of Trump alongside the quote:
If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.
We found several mentions of a possible Trump presidential bid in People magazine in the late 1990s — but we were unable to find any instances of him calling Republicans “the dumbest group of voters in the country.”
After covering earlier rumors that Trump was thinking about running for president on several occasions, People reported in December 1998 that Trump had announced plans to explore the possibility of seeking office. The article didn’t cite specifics about Trump’s platform or party affiliation, but the outlet did mention a meeting between Trump and Jesse Ventura, the leader of the Reform Party at the time. People also quoted Trump as saying that Oprah Winfrey would be his choice for a running mate.
In a 1999 interview with Larry King on CNN, Trump was a little more specific about his political views and party affiliation. At that time, Trump affirmed that he was a registered Republican — but described himself as a centrist. Trump also talked about running on the Reform Party ticket, as evidenced by a transcript of the appearance.
In the end, we couldn’t find any instances of Donald Trump saying that Republicans are the dumbest group of voters, and rated the claim “not true.”
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