Politics - News Analysis

Trump Claims That Men Who Take Care of Their Kids Are ‘Acting Like the Wife’

Donald Trump is already in hot water with women, with recent polling showing he is losing support amongst white women heading into the 2020 election. Now, maybe he will be also be in hot water with another group…parents.

Trump likes to portray himself as a family man, who hired his daughter Ivanka as senior adviser and has his son Don Jr. working the campaign trail for him.

However, his comments in series of past interviews reveal retrograde ideas about fatherhood that are out of step with today’s America, where both parents work in nearly half of all two-parent households.

Buzzfeed took a look back at a series of interviews from 2003 to 2007, in which Trump talked about fatherhood, taking care of the kids, and parental gender roles. Trump, who is not exactly known for being consistent, stayed on message about parenthood throughout: Dads supply the money, moms do everything else.

Here’s an overview of what these interviews teach us about Trump:

Trump doesn’t change diapers…

“No, I don’t do that,” Trump said on the Opie and Anthony show in 2005. “There’s a lot of women out there that demand that the husband act like the wife and you know there’s a lot of husbands that listen to that… I’m really like a great father but certain things you do and certain things you don’t. It’s just not for me.”

…or really do anything hands-on to care for his kids.

“I mean, I won’t do anything to take care of them. I’ll supply funds and she’ll take care of the kids. It’s not like I’m gonna be walking the kids down Central Park,” Trump said in a 2005 interview with Howard Stern. “Marla used to say, ‘I can’t believe you’re not walking Tiffany down the street,’ you know in a carriage. Right, I’m gonna be walking down Fifth Avenue with a baby in a carriage. It just didn’t work.”

It’s not just babies that Trump avoids.

In a 2007 interview, Trump told Stern about his relationship with Tiffany, his daughter with Marla Marples. Trump said that Tiffany visits him, “You know for about an hour, ‘Hi dad,’ Hi Tiff, I love you Tiff.’ She’s a great kid,” says Trump, who tells Stern that Tiffany’s a smart girl—something he knows because he “glances” at her report cards.

Perhaps he’s trying to patch things up with Tiffany after his comments on a previous Howard Stern Show?

Speaking to Stern in 2003, Trump said he married Maples because she got pregnant with Tiffany. “At the time it was like, ‘Excuse me, what happened?” Trump said. “And then I said, ‘Well, what are we going to do about this?’”

However, last month it was revealed by Trump’s now-fired assistant that Trump doesn’t like to be photographed with Tiffany because he thinks she is fat.

meet the author

Nicole Hickman James is a lifelong Democrat and political activist who first cut her teeth as a teenager volunteering for Mike Dukakis’ presidential campaign. She has worked and volunteered for John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, HFA (Hillary For America), and Organizing For Action. She’s passionate about liberal and progressive causes and considers President Obama her favorite president ever. She holds her Bachelor’s from Boston College in Economics and her Master's from Columbia, also in Economics. When not working as a writer, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her three college-aged children.

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