Former Republican President Donald Trump was roasted online after he asked the crowd at a campaign rally in Davenport, Iowa if anyone in the audience didn't like their children.
Trump told the crowd they could simply not leave their children "a thing" in their wills if they don't like them and bragged that he’d “virtually eliminated” the “unfair estate tax” to protect family farms while he was in the executive office.
You can hear what Trump said in the video below.
Trump said:
“If you don’t like your kids that much or if you don’t like them at all, which happens on occasion, don’t leave them a thing."
“Does anybody in here not like their children?”
After someone in the crowd signaled that they don't in fact like their own children, Trump responded:
"Oh, be careful. Oh, we gotta be careful with that. The problem is the fake news media is going to report that as fact, you know that? You’re going to have a lot of explaining to do.”
People were quick to mock Trump for his admission.
Trump is known to have a cold and often adversarial relationship with his own children.
According to Unprecedented, a three-part documentary by filmmaker Alex Holder, Trump often pitted his children against each other but always made clear he preferred his eldest daughter Ivanka, who served as one of his most trusted presidential advisers.
Trump did not have a hands-on approach to parenting, preferring instead to focus on growing his real estate business. He did foster a fierce competitive streak among his children, though interviews suggest his eldest sons Donald Jr. and Eric could not hold a candle to his daughter.
The relationship between Trump and Ivanka is now strained given her decision to distance herself from him after he lost the 2020 general election.
She has since cooperated with the House Select Committee tasked with investigating the January 6 insurrection, a move which drew the ire of her father after she said she "accepted" the results of the election.
@IrnaEnglish/X