Former President Donald Trump speaks at a Save America Rally. (Getty/ Jeff Swensen)
A new book is set to expose Donald Trump’s rampant homophobia and transphobia throughout his career.
Trump’s horrific comments about women are widely documented – such as his “grab ’em by the pussy” remark – and while his anti-LGBTQ+ policies spoke for themselves, a new book from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman is set to expose even more disgusting behaviour behind-the-scenes.
Excerpts from the book Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, obtained by Daily Beast, describe Trump’s use of anti-LGBTQ+ slurs, comments about the genitals of trans people, and bragging about underpaying a gay employee.
The book, due for release on 4 October, details an incident in 2016, when Trump was rehearsing for a debate against Hillary Clinton. His advisor Reince Priebus asked him a practice question about trans women using women’s bathrooms.
Haberman claims Trump immediately responded with: “C**ked or dec**ked?”
The soon-to-be-president was met with deafening silence from those in the room, before one person dared to question him, asking: “Dec**ked?”
Trump clarified, as he made a “chopping gesture”: “With or without c**k?”
Asked what difference this would make, Haberman writes how Trump responded: “What if a girl was in the bathroom and someone came in, lifted up a skirt, and a schlong was hanging out?”
Donald Trump sees queer men as ‘weak’
The book uses the accounts of former Trump staff to demonstrate his obsession with masculinity and a view that LGBTQ+ men are “weak”.
The ex-employees “recalled Trump mocking gay men, or men who were seen as weak, with the words ‘queer’ or ‘f****t’”, Haberman writes, and even said he would “belittle” former Trump Organization exec Alan Marcus and “brag” about paying him less because he is “queer”.
Haberman claims Trump also spoke about his former chief spokesperson, Jason Miller, and his speculation on the staff member’s sexuality, to Mike Pence, saying: “You know how sometimes someone turns out to be gay later and you knew? This guy, he isn’t even like one per cent gay.”
For someone who appears to have an inexplicable fear of gay people, Trump made a surprising comment this week.
In a slip of the tongue that might have been amusing coming from anyone else, Trump told his supporters at a rally that “we have to keep our country gay”, before fumbling over his words: “But, uh, but it’s not, I mean for some reason, it’s not great anymore.”