Disability rights matter to Fred C. Trump III. His son, William, was born with a rare genetic mutation. Shortly after birth, William began having seizures. Fred told People that he and his wife, Lisa, eventually discovered that William "had a genetic mutation called KCNQ2," which caused severe developmental and intellectual disabilities. William, who is nonverbal, is now 25 years old and needs 24/7 care.
Speaking to People, Fred called his son William "the most courageous and inspirational person I've met." But Fred doesn't believe that his uncle, former President Donald Trump, really understands that.
In a new book, All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way, Fred sheds light on some of his reasons for thinking this. In reality, Fred simply wanted to write about his own family, his son William and disabilities, he told The Independent, but publishers advised him against it. This advice pushed him to write more about the Trump family at large.
The book includes some shocking interactions with his uncle Donald, like when he allegedly said that people with disabilities like William's maybe "should just die," per The Independent.
Fred, like his sister Mary Trump, has had a rocky relationship with some members of his family, which Mary also detailed in her memoir. In 2009, Fred scheduled a meeting with his uncle Donald due to rising medical costs for his son, and Fred's aunts and uncles agreed to start a medical fund to help support William.
At the time, though, Donald allegedly struggled to understand William's genetic disorder.
When Fred told him that William had a genetic disorder — though the family was still working on getting a diagnosis at the time — Donald reportedly said, "Not in our family. There’s nothing wrong with our genes," per People.
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More than 10 years later, in 2020, Fred had another challenging conversation with his uncle. Fred reportedly reached out to Donald and explained how some of William's medical costs were increasing, and some of Donald's siblings were not eager to contribute. Fred noted that Donald was one of the few people in the family who continued to contribute "consistently" to the medical fund, according to The Guardian.
Still, the conversation he had with his uncle disgusted him.
When he described the situation to his uncle, "Donald took a second as if he was thinking about the whole situation," Fred wrote in his book, per The Guardian.
Donald then reportedly said: "I don’t know. He doesn’t recognize you. Maybe you should just let him die and move down to Florida."
Speaking to The Independent, Fred said, "How could one human being say that about another human being, least of all his grand-nephew?"
Fred has not supported Trump politically, and has said that he will vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, per People. Regardless of the outcome of the election, he will continue to advocate.
"Disability advocacy is super important to me and I'm not letting it go," Fred told People. "Whether it's a potential Trump administration or a potential Harris administration, we're going to hold their feet to the fire."
