Topline
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday called out longtime New York acquaintance and radio host Howard Stern as “weak, pathetic and disloyal,” after Stern—who had regularly hosted Trump for decades and has lauded him as one of his best guests—argued he’d gladly accept the label “woke” if it meant not backing Trump.
Former President Donald Trump called Howard Stern “pathetic” and “weak” after Stern claimed he’s … [+] “woke.”
Key Facts
Trump blasted Stern in an early morning post on his social media platform Truth Social, calling Stern a “broken weirdo, unattractive both inside and out, trying like hell to be relevant!”
The former president’s comments come just days after Stern on his SiriusXM show addressed criticism of the show being too “woke,” claiming he takes the term “as a compliment.”
Stern also argued on his show that “if woke means I can’t get behind Trump” or supporting transgender rights or promoting the Covid-19 vaccine, then “dude call me woke as you f**king want” (Trump’s stance on vaccination has been wishy-washy, while the former president has generally opposed transgender rights, including through a transgender ban in the military, and has expressed support for banning trans women in women’s sports).
Stern also has more recently called out Trump as well as a host of conservative issues, including the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last June, which prompted him to tease a presidential run, vowing to “make the country fair again.”
Tangent
Trump also claimed on Saturday that Stern “lost his friends and MUCH of his audience” and that “nobody cares about him any longer.” Stern’s syndicated radio show, however, is estimated to maintain a steady audience of roughly 10 million listeners. Stern is also the highest-paid radio host in the world, signing a five-year contract extension with SiriusXM in 2020.
Key Background
Trump appeared more than three dozen times on the Howard Stern show throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, though Trump’s final appearance on the show came in August 2015. In October 2016, CNN published a report that found Trump regularly made misogynistic and demeaning comments about women on the Howard Stern Show, including controversial remarks about his daughter Ivanka Trump’s body, as well as lewd comments about intercourse with women on their menstrual cycles (that report came one day after the Washington Post published a bombshell video of Trump telling former Access Hollywood host Billy Bush in 2005 that he used his fame to lure women). In a 2019 interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Stern lauded Trump’s ability to connect with an audience, saying Trump was “one of the best guests of all time,” while calling him “wild” and “unfiltered,” noting his tendency to rate women’s physical attractiveness on a scale of one to 10.
Contra
In a May 2020 episode of his radio show, however, Stern famously claimed Trump “despises” his political base, saying he is “disgusted” by MAGA voters, but “loves the famous.”
Surprising Fact
Despite regularly using the term “woke” as a way to criticize liberal policies denounced by Republicans as “politically correct,” Trump said at a campaign stop in June that he no longer likes the term, claiming “half the people can’t even define it.” His comments came just days after he slammed his 2024 GOP rival Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) for allowing Disney to become a “woke and disgusting shadow of its former self” amid a months-long feud with the company.
Further Reading
Trump Says He Doesn’t Like The Term ‘Woke’—The Republican Buzzword He’s Repeatedly Used (Forbes)
Trump Slams Disney For Going ‘Woke’ As He Blames DeSantis For Failing To Stop It (Forbes)
