Donald Trump’s grip on the 2024 GOP presidential nomination appears undiminished, even with the emergence of new contenders gaining traction.
Although the ex-president has been a dominant figure in the race this year, a recent poll showed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis edging him out among younger Republican constituents.
Furthermore, a social media update raised doubts about Trump’s perspective on his supporters, suggesting he once belittled the intelligence of GOP electorates.
A post on X, previously known as Twitter, by @DanielleCandela on August 25, 2023, seen by 63,200 individuals, featured a purported 1998 quote from Trump in People Magazine saying, “If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the most gullible voters in the nation. They trust everything on Fox News. I could deceive them, and they’d lap it up. My popularity would skyrocket.”
@DanielleCandela commented: “The magnate journeyed from his luxury golf resort to Georgia on his own version of Air Force One, sporting a faux tan, provided misleading information on his paperwork, procured a bail agent, then jetted off, essentially fooling his followers. He wasn’t wrong about them.”
This alleged quote draws parallels with some of Trump’s past remarks, notably his 2016 assertion about potentially causing harm on New York’s Fifth Avenue without alienating his base.
Yet, no evidence confirms that Trump ever made the derogatory remark about the GOP electorate on X.
This fabricated quote has been making rounds since 2015. People Magazine, supposedly the source, informed factcheck.org the same year that they had no trace of it. They discovered no records of such a quote and denied any 1998 interview. Thorough inquiries by factcheck.org didn’t reveal any archived confirmations.
Trump had expressed interest in the presidency well before his 2016 bid, and his political affiliations appeared to shift when discussing potential White House aspirations.
In 2015, The Smoking Gun, referencing voter documents, noted that Trump had changed his party affiliation, even to the Democrats, on several occasions.
However, even with Trump’s varied political background and the resemblance of the said quote to some of his known statements, evidence confirms he never termed Republicans as the “least astute voters” in America.
To sum up, Donald Trump didn’t label Republicans as the “least astute voters” in the country. This fabricated statement has been shared online since 2015. People Magazine, supposedly the source, found no evidence supporting this claim in their archives.
