Unsubstantiated claim that Donald Trump’s mother said he’d be a ‘disaster’ in politics reshared online

Claims that President Donald Trump’s mother said he’d be a “disaster” in politics are being reshared online. But there’s no evidence she ever said this.

Posts on Facebook claim Mary Anne Trump supposedly said: “Yes, he’s an idiot with zero common sense and no social skills, but he IS my son. I just hope he never gets into politics. He’d be a disaster.” 

Mrs Trump’s name appears underneath the quote, which is accompanied by a photo of the mother and son together, implying that it is referring to President Trump rather than either of his brothers.

However, as we explained when we wrote about the same quote earlier this year, there’s no evidence Mrs Trump said the words attributed to her in the image. 

The posts don’t give a date on which the alleged quote was said, and do not provide a source for it either. The president’s mother died in 2000.

Similar posts featuring the quote have been circulating since at least 2019 and have been fact checked by others. 

While we’ve not been able to find the original source of the photo, in a different picture of the mother and son taken at an event in Trump Tower, New York on 28 September 1991, Mrs Trump appears to be wearing the same earrings and coat, though she does have glasses on in the dated photo. 

In 2021, we fact checked an almost identical quote circulating about the then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, attributed to his mother. Again, there was no evidence the quote was real.

We’ve previously written about a number of other unsubstantiated quotes attributed to political or public figures. 

False or misleading claims online have the potential to harm individuals, groups and democratic processes and institutions. Online claims can spread fast and far, and are difficult to contain and correct.