Donald Trump's Father Former KKK Member?
A New York Times article from 1927 reports a man, who might be Donald Trump's father, was arraigned, along with members of the Klu Klux Klan, after a fight with police.
The article, unearthed by BoingBoing and available to New York Times subscribers through the newspaper's archive, describes how a man named Fred Trump was part of a mob of 1,000 Klansmen who battled with around 100 policemen in Queens.
Police Commissioner Joseph A. Warren chided the historically racist group for their behavior, saying, “The Klan not only wore gowns, but had hoods over their faces almost completely hiding their identity.”
Although the Jazz Age era article says that “Fred Trump of 175-24 Devonshire Road, Jamaica, was discharged,” this in itself is not proof that the presidential candidate’s father, who would have been 21 at the time, was a member of the KKK.
Although Trump has followed his father’s example and become a New York real estate developer, he has made a point of going down a decidedly different path. An article in the Washington Post points out the two Trumps essentially differ over thrift versus excess. Fred Trump, who died in 1999, pursued affordable housing projects, while his son spared no expense for his skyscraper dreams.
In his book “The Art of the Deal," Trump says, “The real reason I wanted out of my father’s business -- more important than the fact that it was physically rough and financially tough --was that I had loftier dreams and visions.”
If this uncovered bit of info about Trump’s father turns out to be true, and he was in fact a Klan member, Trump can take heart in the knowledge that the Bush family does not seem to have been hurt by their own connection to a racist group.
U.S. senator Prescott Bush -- father to former president George H. W. Bush and grandfather to former president George W. Bush, as well as current presidential candidate Jeb Bush -- was involved with financial architects in Nazi Germany. As reported in the Guardian, his business dealings even led to civil action for damages by two former slave laborers at Auschwitz.
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!