Eric Trump was widely mocked after he accidentally blasted his father, former President Donald Trump, during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Eric Trump had meant to call out the media for censorship—and clearly did not intend to let out a perfect Freudian slip in the process.
The verbal slip occurred as Eric falsely claimed that the media had been censoring his father since the beginning of his presidential campaign.
He said:
"They've been censoring my father since the minute he went down the escalator. Anything they put out, he would censor."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Critics and observers quickly seized on the comment, labeling it a Freudian slip that unintentionally revealed Donald Trump's attitude toward media coverage.
Eric Trump's grievances emerged after Hannity reminded him that Fox News had aired his father's New Hampshire GOP primary victory speech in full, unlike CNN and MSNBC, which cut away for fact-checks.
However, critics found these complaints hollow, pointing out that Donald Trump had received billions of dollars' worth of free media coverage since declaring his political ambitions.
A 2016 analysis revealed that Trump garnered nearly $2 billion in free media attention during the presidential campaign, surpassing the combined value of media coverage received by all his Republican rivals.
The study, conducted by The New York Times using data from mediaQuant and SMG Delta, indicated that Trump received over six times the amount of free coverage compared to his closest competitor, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Moreover, he obtained more than two-and-a-half times the coverage of Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent.
The former President himself has a history of attempting to control media portrayals. Reports suggest that during his presidency, Trump sought to censor late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel over mocking jokes. Additionally, he hinted at seeking revenge on MSNBC for its coverage if he were to regain the White House.
