person · US
Donald Trump
Report a factCorrect or respond
President of the United States (2017–2021 and since 2025); majority owner of Trump Media & Technology Group through a trust.
Documented facts (10)
In a speech in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, after announcing a "permanent pause on Third World migration, including from hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia", said he had asked senators at a past meeting why the US only takes people from "shithole countries" rather than from Norway, Sweden or Denmark, adding "we always take people from Somalia. Places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime." CNN reported that his account matched reports of the January 2018 meeting at which he had been reported to use the phrase, and that it was the first time he explicitly confirmed it.
“Why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right? Why can't we have some people from Norway, Sweden – just a few – let us have a few.”
Response: In January 2018 Trump had denied the remark, writing that "this was not the language used".
Reacting on Truth Social to a video in which six Democratic lawmakers with military or intelligence backgrounds urged service members to refuse illegal orders, wrote that their "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR" was "punishable by DEATH!", reposted an article about them adding "LOCK THEM UP???" and reshared a user's post reading "HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!".
“punishable by DEATH!”
Response: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president was not threatening the lawmakers with violence.
As his administration prepared immigration raids and a federal crackdown in Chicago, posted an AI-generated image of himself as an officer in the war film "Apocalypse Now", captioned "Chipocalypse Now", with a post saying Chicago would find out why it is called the Department of War, accompanied by helicopter emojis. Illinois Democrats condemned the post; Governor JB Pritzker said the president was threatening to go to war with an American city.
“I love the smell of deportations in the morning”
Response: White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said local Democratic leaders were "more upset about a post from the President" than about weekend shootings in Chicago.
- 18 Mar 2025Attacks on press & justice
After federal judge James Boasberg temporarily halted deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, including flights to El Salvador, called him "This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge" on Truth Social and wrote that he "should be IMPEACHED!!!", drawing a rare public rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts.
Response: Chief Justice Roberts stated: "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose." Roberts did not name Trump.
- 11 Feb 2025Attacks on press & justice
His White House barred Associated Press reporters from presidential events, then indefinitely from the Oval Office and Air Force One, because the agency kept using the name "Gulf of Mexico" rather than the "Gulf of America" designation Trump had ordered. AP photographers were still allowed to attend.
Response: Deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich said the AP's choice exposed its "commitment to misinformation" and that the First Amendment does not ensure their "privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One".
On his first day back in office, signed a proclamation granting full pardons to people convicted of offenses related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol (about 1,500 people, by his own count), commuting the sentences of 14 others to time served, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, and directing the dismissal of pending indictments. Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, convicted of seditious conspiracy, was pardoned. The proclamation said it "ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years".
During the presidential debate with Kamala Harris, repeated the baseless claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating residents' pets. Springfield officials had said there were "no credible reports or specific claims" of pets being harmed by members of the immigrant community.
“In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. The people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating -- they're eating the pets of the people that live there.”
- 11 Nov 2023Anti-democracy
In a Veterans Day speech in Claremont, New Hampshire, vowed to "root out" political opponents he described as living "like vermin" and said the threat from within was greater than that from Russia, China or North Korea, while repeating false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Historians quoted by the Washington Post compared the language to that of Hitler and Mussolini.
“We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections”
Response: Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said those making the comparison were "snowflakes" suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome".
In a video interview with the right-leaning site The National Pulse, said undocumented immigrants were "poisoning the blood of our country", language CNN notes is often used by white supremacists and nativists. CNN reported on 6 October 2023 that the interview had been published the previous week.
“It's poisoning the blood of our country. It's so bad, and people are coming in with disease.”
- 3 Dec 2022Anti-democracy
Posted on Truth Social, repeating the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, that such a fraud allows for the termination of rules and articles "even those found in the Constitution". The White House called attacking the Constitution "anathema to the soul of our nation".
“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Response: On December 5, 2022, Trump posted that the "Fake News" was trying to convince Americans he wanted to "terminate" the Constitution, calling this "DISINFORMATION & LIES".
Relations
- Trump Media & Technology Group is owned by Donald Trump