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Frederick Christ "Fred" Trump (1905–1999) was a sociopath,^[1]:24,26,43 an American real estate developer, and the father of former-United States Appeals Judge Maryanne Trump Barry and Donald Trump. As such, Fred is Maryanne and Donald's only known klancestor.^[2] Proving the appropriateness of the "Christ" part of his name, in the New York State census of 1925 Trump listed his profession as "carpenter".^[3]

Fred Trump built his fortune by profiteering off US government housing contracts during the post-WWII building boom. A 1954 US Senate committee investigated Trump and never charged him with a crime, but his tactics are reminiscent of his son's real estate tactics (self-dealing, inflating prices, and shifting risk to other parties while keeping capital).^[4][5] Fred's tactics included working the refs (claiming bias against himself when there was none), lying and cheating, skimming profits at taxpayer expense, and tax fraud^[1]:141

Before his death in 1999, Fred Trump suffered from Alzheimer's Disease for six years. The disease has a genetic component... and it shows.^[6] (which means that his son could be America's second Alzheimer president). He became sick with pneumonia in June 1999 and was admitted to Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, where he died a few weeks later.^[7][8][9]

Views on race[edit]

His racism re-emerged into public debate when his son launched his presidential campaign, with pundits noticing the extent to which "like father, like son" worked out here.^{[note 1][10]} Although it may never be known with certainty what Fred Trump's views on race were, it has been established that the 21-year old Fred was arrested "on a charge of refusing to disperse from a parade when ordered to do so"^[11] at a Ku Klux Klan rally-cum-riot in Queens, New York.^[12][13] What is not known about this arrest is whether Fred was a Klansman, a fellow traveller or an innocent bystander. However, it is relatively certain that he was not the sort to walk into the hood, shake hands with the Bloods and the Crips, then bust into a soulful, powerful rhythm and funk solo. When Donald Trump was asked by the “New York Times” about the veracity of his father's arrest, Donald flat-out denied it, claiming that his father never lived at 175-24 Devonshire Road as Fred's residence was listed in the original 1927 news report.^[13] It has, however, been established that Fred did indeed reside at that address at the time of his arrest.^[13] One article on the riot, however, stated that all seven arrestees were all wearing Klan attire (Long Island Daily Press on June 2, 1927).^[13]

This might all have been an unimportant footnote in the Trump family history if Fred wasn't a racist, or if Donald had been courageous and repudiated his father's alleged racism, or even if Donald wasn't a racist. Alas, there are some serious doubts.

Fred lied about his German ethnicity to his Jewish tenants and clients by claiming he was of Swedish ancestry^[9] — a lie that Donald repeated in his autobiography Tony Schwarz's biography "nonfiction work of fiction" Trump: The Art of the Deal.^[14][15] (Where's the birth certificate, Donald?)

In the 1950s, Woody Guthrie lived as a tenant in one of Fred's buildings (named Beach Haven) and wrote some heretofore unpublished songs about Fred:^[16] This:

I suppose
Old Man Trump knows
Just how much
Racial Hate
he stirred up
In the bloodpot of human hearts
When he drawed
That color line
Here at his
Eighteen hundred family project

and a rework of his song "I Ain't Got No Home":

Beach Haven ain't my home!
I just can't pay this rent!
My money's down the drain!
And my soul is badly bent!
Beach Haven looks like heaven
Where no black ones come to roam!
No, no, no! Old Man Trump!
Old Beach Haven ain't my home!

Fred continued his racist housing policies for several years after the Fair Housing Act of 1968 made discrimination in housing illegal.^[13] The Trump Management Corporation (TMC) was sued by the federal government in 1973 for refusing to rent to African Americans.^[17][13] The lawsuit was initially resolved in 1975 without an admission of guilt.^[13] Fred was in charge of TMC until 1971, when Donald took control, which meant that both Fred and Donald were being accused of racial discrimination. In 1978, TMC was again charged with a discrimination lawsuit for violating the original terms of the 1975 agreement.^[13] In 1983, the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal found that two "Trump Village" residences were 95% white.^[13] Donald has dismissed this Fair Housing litigation against him as just one of many such cases. However, according to one of the prosecuting attorneys, Elyse Goldweber, "It was an important, significant step for enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. It was a big deal."^[18] Troublingly, Donald continued his fight for the right to discriminate by tapping the completely unqualified Ben Carson to be the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from March 2, 2017 until his succession by Biden nominee Marcia Fudge on January 20, 2021. Carson, who is African American, once referred to fair housing as a "mandated social-engineering scheme" and equated it with communism.^[19]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]