Donald Trump’s nephew has posted a searing takedown of the president’s performance at the Republicans’ midterm convention.
Fred Trump III, 64, posted on X that his uncle had turned the GOP’s event in Dallas into a “clown show.” He called the event a “tragic joke” and begged followers to vote Democrat and “return us to sanity.”
GOP lawmakers hoped the 80-year-old president would use the event to trumpet their achievements in Congress over the past two years. The party faces elections overshadowed by Trump’s war in Iran and widespread cost-of-living concerns, which have helped hand Democrats an almost 8-point lead in the polls.
Trump instead talked at length about his multimillion-dollar D.C. construction projects, blamed Democrats for unaffordability, slammed his own party for failing to pass voting reforms, and promised every adult voter $5,000 each, a payout of roughly $1.35 trillion, if the Republicans win.
Fred Trump—the son of Donald’s older brother, Fred Trump Jr., an alcoholic who died in 1981—kicked off his post: “Some comments about the clown show in Dallas last night.”
He continued, “In the hardly packed American Airlines Center ... you got to be inspired by Soybean Scott Bessent, roused by chest thumpin Sen [Tim] Scott (does this guy ever get tired of debasing himself?) And of course, the $5,000 dividend if the Republicans win House and Senate (see $2,500 DOGE checks and $2,000 Tariff checks).
“Well, all I can say is “There’s an old saying in Texas that says, fool me once, shame on- shame on you. Fool me- you can’t get fooled again”. What a tragic joke. Vote Democrat, and return us to sanity.”
Trump announced ahead of the event, billed as “Trump-a-palooza,” that it had “sold out” because “everybody wants to be there.” He then spent the evening addressing an arena with empty sections on every level, despite organizers texting out offers of “FREE TICKETS.”
Livestreams by ABC News, Fox News, The Hill and Rightside Broadcast Network also showed that the number of people who tuned in from home hovered in the hundreds to low thousands at various points throughout the night.
Fred Trump joked about the low viewership figures by opening his post with a breakdown of the night’s NFL match between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, writing: “Oh, I digressed, sorry.”
He reminded followers that he attended Trump’s first inauguration, “so I have a knowledge of overestimated crowd size.”
It’s the second salvo from the same member of the 80-year-old president’s family in as many days. Fred Trump posted on Tuesday to call out the president’s constantly shifting account of where he was and what he did on the day of the Sept 11, 2001 terror attacks, ahead of this week’s commemoration of 25 years since the atrocities.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.
