The Apprentice,” Trump discovered from his mentor, controversial lawyer Roy Cohn, to confess nothing and deny the whole lot; one in all his PR guidelines is and has all the time been, as Cohn said, “It doesn’t matter what occurs, you declare victory and by no means admit defeat.” Throughout Trump’s first time period in workplace, The Washington Put up’s fact-checkers documented over 30,000 deceptive or false claims from the president, however not a single one led to an apology or act of contrition or ignorance. As such, with out exhausting proof, few rumors about Trump ever change into outright info.
Trump is solely fact-resistant, and if Trump says it isn’t true, many MAGA Republicans imagine him. Granted, the alternative can be true, as a 2016 ballot from Fairleigh Dickinson College revealed; in case you’re against Trump, then you definately’re rather more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and doubtful rumors that paint him in a foul mild. Suffice it to say (and it has been mentioned advert nauseam), politics precedes notion in post-truth America, and one’s ideological make-up typically determines one’s actuality. However irrespective of your political persuasion, there are some persistent rumors about Trump that appear inconceivable to shake — from the damning and plausible to the considerably foolish and suspicious.
Will the Epstein rumors ever go away?
An allegation concerning Donald Trump’s historical past with Jeffrey Epstein is probably essentially the most important and unceasing rumor in regards to the president — each due to its criminally scandalous implications and the truth that there’s a lot respectable proof behind it. The nexus of numerous conspiracy theories, Epstein was after all the New York financier and accused intercourse trafficker who had connections with a number of the world’s strongest individuals, from Invoice Gates and Invoice Clinton to Prince Andrew and, sure, Donald Trump. Regardless of his insistence that he by no means participated in any of the acts Epstein grew to become recognized for, their friendship has been extensively substantiated.
Whereas Epstein died in 2019, the rumor that Trump intently related to Epstein and engaged in unlawful actions alongside him has not gone away, a lot to Trump’s chagrin. That’s due to a sluggish leak of proof through the years that connects the 2. Trump is listed within the flight logs for Epstein’s infamous airplane, “The Lolita Categorical,” and there are numerous photos of the 2 collectively, together with one in all Epstein at Trump’s 1993 wedding ceremony to Marla Maples. Together with an notorious video of the pair laughing collectively at a celebration in 1992, there may be video of the 2 collectively at a 1999 Victoria’s Secret vogue present. There may be additionally an audio recording of Epstein calling Trump his “closest good friend” and a weird birthday card Trump made for Epstein in 2003, that includes a poem of types inside a drawing of a unadorned lady. The rumors have led even a few of Trump’s most trustworthy MAGA loyalists to query him.
Can Donald Trump learn?
Whereas on its floor, the rumor that Donald Trump is functionally illiterate might sound ridiculous. Regardless, there are embarrassing movies through the years that lend credence to the rumor, a lot of which have been featured on “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,” in a section titled “Trump Can’t Learn.”
In one interview with Pat Buchanan, Trump struggled to call a ebook except for his personal (“The Artwork of the Deal”). He said that Tom Wolfe was his favourite creator, however when requested, he admitted he hadn’t learn “Bonfire of the Vanities,” as an alternative claiming that he was studying Wolfe’s “present ebook” — which was “Bonfire of the Vanities.”
Former “Saturday Night time Reside” star Pete Davidson mentioned on “Opie with Jim Norton” that Trump doesn’t know how you can learn, recalling the time that Trump hosted the sketch comedy present and couldn’t comply with alongside through the desk learn, preferring to improvise. After which there’s a deposition video during which Trump refuses to learn a doc he’s given, claiming to not have his glasses (regardless of by no means being seen carrying glasses).
Trump’s rumored illiteracy has led him to disregard each day presidential briefings that his employees prepares, with Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard contemplating utilizing video briefings reasonably than written info. “The issue with Trump is that he doesn’t learn,” one supply advised NBC. So how does he tweet? Throughout court docket testimony, his former aide Madeleine Westerhout said that he dictated his tweets, one thing Trump himself has admitted.
Does Melania hate Donald Trump?
For many years, the tabloids have wasted oceans of ink on countless rumors about Donald Trump’s marriages. This has continued into his two presidencies, with the largest rumors swirling about his marriage to Melania. In comparison with earlier girls in her place, this First Girl has been seldom seen, and spends extra time away from the White Home than in it with Donald. Historian Katherine Jellison advised The New York Occasions, “We haven’t seen such a low-profile first woman since Bess Truman, and that’s going approach again in dwelling human reminiscence, practically 80 years in the past.” Melania was hardly ever seen all through the 2 years of Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign; her solely speech at a rally lasted lower than 5 minutes on Oct. 27, 2024.
Some imagine that Melania downright despises Donald by now. Social media sometimes lit up with video of Melania batting away Donald’s hand as he reaches to carry hers, or turning her face when he goes in for a kiss. “She hates him,” Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s short-lived communications director, advised “Meidas Contact.” “I choose the hatred of Donald Trump by the Melania normal,” he mentioned, additionally revealing, “I’ve met one individual that truly hates Trump greater than Melania, that’s Gen. [Mark] Milley.” Journalist Michael Wolff put it merely, telling The Every day Beast podcast, “The president of the US and the primary woman are separated.” In any case, her husband was discovered responsible of 34 felony counts involving his hush cash cost to porn star Stormy Daniels, so it’s exhausting in charge her if the rumors are true.
What number of girls have accused Donald Trump?
It isn’t simply the Stormy Daniels affair that Melania Trump could also be disgusted by; there’s a lengthy checklist of ladies who’ve accused Donald Trump of sexual impropriety. Trump’s half-confession to this, revealed within the “Entry Hollywood” tape scandal, nearly sank his marketing campaign. In it, he advised Billy Bush (per BBC), “ I’m robotically interested in stunning… I simply begin kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Simply kiss. I don’t even wait. And if you’re a star they allow you to do it. You are able to do something. … Seize them by the p****. You are able to do something.” This sort of molestation and groping has been alleged by not less than 15 girls, in response to Vox and numerous different retailers.
Moreover, in 1989, Ivana Trump advised mates that Trump had raped her. She later said (per NPR), “As a girl, I felt violated … I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ however I are not looking for my phrases to be interpreted in a literal or felony sense.” Whereas most sexual allegations towards Trump are simply that, a 2023 jury discovered Trump liable of sexual assault towards E. Jean Carroll, relationship again to a time in late 1995 when he pressured himself upon her in a dressing room. Although Trump denied this, he was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million, after which $83 million for defaming her — cash he has but to give up.
In case you or anybody you realize has been a sufferer of sexual assault, assist is obtainable. Go to the Rape, Abuse & Incest Nationwide Community web site or contact RAINN’s Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Does Russia have blackmail on Donald Trump?
Donald Trump’s purported sexual habits has led to the infamous rumor that Russia, or maybe Israel, has blackmail materials on him. Within the run-up to the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton paid Fusion GPS for opposition analysis towards Trump, which resulted in an investigation headed by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele. Leaked whereas unfinished, the so-called “Steele File” accommodates a litany of bombshell allegations concerning Trump’s relationship with Russia, although many are uncorroborated and a few are merely unfalsifiable. Nonetheless, rumors of a sure scandalous “pee tape” has plagued Trump for practically a decade.
Russia collected info so as “to take advantage of Trump’s private obsessions and sexual perversions with a view to acquire appropriate ‘kompromat’ (compromising materials) on him,” in response to the file (by way of The Atlantic). Essentially the most infamous of all of the allegations, Report 80, concerned Donald Trump paying a number of intercourse staff to urinate on a mattress within the Ritz Carlton suite that earlier president Barack Obama as soon as slept in. “The resort was recognized to be below FSB management with microphones and hid cameras in all the primary rooms to report something they wished to,” the report added (by way of GQ). “Trump’s unorthodox habits in Russia through the years had supplied the authorities there with sufficient embarrassing materials on the now Republican presidential candidate to have the ability to blackmail him in the event that they so wished.”
There are rumors that even Israel has kompromat on Trump, one thing which ties into the president’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Some have accused Epstein of being a Mossad agent for Israel, claiming his pedophile ring was used to create blackmail on numerous highly effective figures, Trump included.
Did Donald Trump use faux names?
One of many weirdest rumors concerning Donald Trump accuses him of taking up faux names and pretending to be completely different individuals when talking to reporters. These names included “John Miller” and “John Baron” (generally “Barron”), personalities that Trump created to be his personal kind of spokesman. Based on Fortune, Trump could have gotten the thought from his dad, Fred Trump Sr., who generally used the title “Mr. Inexperienced” when talking with reporters.
Donald Trump supposedly started utilizing pseudonyms in 1980, when he got here below hearth for destroying traditionally vital paintings in his development of Trump Tower. He’s mentioned to have later used faux names when discussing the whole lot from his failed United States Soccer League to his relationship life. Allegedly below the title John Miller, Trump advised Sue Carswell of Individuals, “Essential, stunning girls name him on a regular basis,” claiming pseudonymously that he could also be concerned with Kim Basinger, Madonna, and Carla Bruni (one thing the latter outright rejected). Trump has publicly denied utilizing a faux persona throughout a 1991 phone interview obtained by The Washington Put up, although he quietly confessed to it whereas below oath, stating, “I imagine from time to time I used that title.” The title was used all through litigation over Trump’s unlawful employment of Polish staff he had paid $4 an hour for development, with Trump admitting (per ArtNet), “A number of individuals use pen names. Ernest Hemingway used one.”
Did Donald Trump fraudulently inflate his value?
Donald Trump additionally used faux names to insinuate that he was a lot wealthier than he truly was, which ties into one other long-standing rumor — that Trump is nowhere close to as rich as he has claimed to be. Jonathan Greenberg, who labored on compiling a number of editions of the Forbes 400 checklist of the richest individuals in America, revealed in a chunk for The Washington Put up that Trump had used the “John Barron” pseudonym to lie about his wealth. “Many of the property have been consolidated to Mr. Trump,” Barron advised Greenberg on the cellphone, making an attempt to achieve a better placement on the checklist. “You have got down Fred Trump [as half owner] . . . however I believe you’ll be able to actually use Donald Trump now.” As Greenberg himself wrote, “I’ve discovered that he shouldn’t have been on the primary three Forbes 400 lists in any respect. In our first-ever checklist, in 1982, we included him at $100 million, however Trump was truly value roughly $5 million.”
Trump’s rumored inflation of his personal wealth (even by $2.2 billion in a single single 12 months) finally led to penalties. In 2023, New York Lawyer Common Letitia James alleged that he had lied about his web value for years, utilizing misleading accounting practices to inflate his wealth (and precise property measurement) with a view to defraud banks and insurers out of larger loans. Choose Arthur Engoran dominated that Trump had fraudulently exaggerated his wealth, one thing an appeals court docket later upheld.
What if Donald Trump by no means wished to be president?
In denying all wrongdoing, Donald Trump has argued that he has been the sufferer of “lawfare” all through his political profession. He claimed that his presidency has made him the goal of rumors and subsequent investigations. After all, being president robotically raises your profile, which is probably why Trump by no means wished to win the primary election to start with, in response to some rumors. The concept Trump would truly change into the U.S. president appeared greater than far-fetched when he introduced his first candidacy. Primarily based on some reviews, the purpose was by no means to win however to generate recognition, strengthen the Trump model, and safe future ebook and TV offers.
Journalist Michael Wolff’s 2018 ebook, “Fireplace and Fury: Contained in the Trump White Home,” documented the Trumps’ response to election night time. “Don Jr. advised a good friend that his father, or DJT, as he calls him, seemed as if he had seen a ghost. Melania was in tears — and never of pleasure,” Wolff wrote (per New York Journal). “There was, within the house of little greater than an hour, in Steve Bannon’s not unamused statement, a befuddled Trump morphing right into a disbelieving Trump after which right into a horrified Trump.” Whereas it’s solely a rumor that Trump didn’t need to win the 2016 election, it’s virtually undisputed that he didn’t anticipate to. As journalist Mary Jordan wrote (per CNN), “The election night time win got here as a shock even to Trump, in response to many on his marketing campaign.”
Is Donald Trump dying?
The older that Donald Trump will get, the extra rumors there are that he both has some type of dementia or that his well being is deteriorating in a roundabout way or one other. The rumors are inclined to escalate so simply that, after Trump wasn’t seen by the media all through Labor Day weekend of 2025, discussions of his demise went viral on the web, resulting in the delightfully ridiculous Politico headline, “Trump denies he’s useless.”
After all, there have been causes for individuals to be involved about Trump’s well being; he was the oldest individual to ever be inaugurated, in any case. Photographs of strange bruising, swollen ankles, and different funky physiognomy raised alarms, and Trump was recognized with continual venous insufficiency. A picture of Trump at a 9/11 memorial occasion, during which half of the president’s slumped, led to rampant hypothesis that Trump had suffered a stroke. Trump has labored extra time to topple these rumors, saying on September 2, 2025, (per Politico), “Final week, I did quite a few information conferences. … After which I didn’t do any for 2 days and so they mentioned, ‘There should be one thing flawed with him.’” He added that former president Joe Biden wouldn’t do press conferences for months at a time, stating, “You wouldn’t see him. And no one ever mentioned there was ever something flawed with him.” Whereas that’s patently false (with even Trump selling the absurd rumor that Biden died in 2020 and had been changed by a physique double), rumors of Trump’s demise have been significantly exaggerated.










