His own supporters
When his own base pressed him on the Epstein files
Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work… because I don't want their support anymore!
Truth Social · July 16, 2025
His supporters were demanding the Epstein files his own administration had promised to release. Rather than answer them, he called their concern a "Hoax," branded them "PAST supporters" who had been "conned," and cast them off as weaklings.
Sources: CNN · TIME · NBC News
Boasting about how loyal his voters are
I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters.
Campaign rally, Sioux Center, Iowa · January 2016
He said it to brag that his supporters were so devoted that nothing he did could cost him their votes, miming a gun with his hand as the crowd laughed. Nearly a decade later, the same assumption still runs through how he talks about them.
Sources: NPR · PBS (AP) · ABC News
What he says about the troops, confirmed by his own chief of staff
Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers.
On the American war dead in France · confirmed by his chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly
He called fallen and wounded American soldiers "suckers" and "losers," would not visit an American cemetery near Paris because it was "filled with losers," and at Arlington asked of the dead, "What was in it for them?" He denied all of it. Then his own longest-serving chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired Marine general whose own son was killed in Afghanistan, confirmed it on the record: he said Trump believes those who serve, are wounded, or die in uniform are "suckers" because "there is nothing in it for them."
Sources: Kelly's on-record confirmation (Axios) · Kelly confirms the remarks (The Hill)
How he described the voters who put him in office
I love the poorly educated.
Victory speech, Nevada caucuses · February 2016
Celebrating his Nevada primary win, he ran through the groups who had voted for him, the evangelicals, the young, the old, the highly educated, and then singled one out for affection: "We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated," adding they were "the most loyal people." The moment is on video. It is his own summary of the people who put him in office.
Sources: The video of the remark (C-SPAN) · The full speech transcript (Quartz)
The communities and cities he wants votes from
On a community he had courted for votes
They contribute nothing. I don't want them in our country… we're going the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.
White House Cabinet meeting · December 2, 2025
He was describing Somali immigrants, and called Rep. Ilhan Omar and "her friends" "garbage" as well. Minnesota's Somali community numbers more than 60,000, the large majority U.S. citizens or legal residents; he drew no distinction. He had asked for their votes in 2024.
Sources: ABC News · CNN · CBC
Denouncing cities where crime was actually falling
Chicago is a hellhole right now, Baltimore is a hellhole right now.
Oval Office · September 2025
He said it while ordering the National Guard into both cities. The data cut the other way: homicides fell sharply across U.S. cities in 2025, and Baltimore recorded its fewest killings in more than 50 years. Both cities' own leaders called the remarks insults, not facts.
Sources: CBS News · The crime data (Axios)
Campaigning in the states he had to win
The whole country will end up being like Detroit.
Detroit Economic Club · October 2024
Speaking in Detroit itself, a city that is majority Black, he used it as a warning of national ruin. In the same weeks he called Philadelphia "ravaged by bloodshed and crime" and Milwaukee "horrible", the largest cities in three battleground states he needed most.
Sources: NBC News
On a majority-Black district he had feuded with for years
A disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess… No human being would want to live there.
Twitter · July 2019
He was attacking the Baltimore district of Rep. Elijah Cummings, one of his sharpest critics, and days later said the city's residents, most of them Black, were "living in hell." Six years on, he was still calling the same city a hellhole.
Sources: Axios · Times of Israel
On 3.5 million American citizens after a hurricane
They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort.
Twitter · September 2017
He was attacking Puerto Rico as it reeled from Hurricane Maria, which killed roughly 3,000 people. He tossed paper towels to survivors during a visit, and two years later called the island "one of the most corrupt places on earth." Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, and their mainland communities are a voting bloc both parties court.
Sources: CNN · The Hill
On the voters of the first state to vote
How stupid are the people of Iowa? How stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap?
Campaign rally, Fort Dodge, Iowa · November 2015
He was venting that Iowa Republicans were favoring his rival Ben Carson in the polls. Minutes later, he floated buying a farm and moving to the state.
Sources: ABC News · CNN · NPR