Did Trump say Republicans are ‘dumbest group of voters’ in 1998?

Claim:

In 1998, Donald Trump stated in an interview that he would run for president as a Republican because they are the “dumbest group of voters.”

Rating:

Throughout August and September 2026, social media posts circulated online reviving a fabricated narrative alleging that Donald Trump once told People magazine that Republicans represent “the dumbest group of voters in the country.”

The fabricated quote typically reads: “If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.”

Variations of this hoax have repeatedly surfaced across digital platforms for years, appearing on Reddit, Threads, and X in mid-2024, as well as on Imgur in 2023 and TikTok as early as 2020.

Extensive investigation reveals zero documentation or proof that Trump ever made such a statement.

This persistent rumor was previously addressed in 2015 and 2020. Furthermore, representatives for People magazine previously clarified to FactCheck.org that their publication had no record of any such interview:

People looked into this exhaustively when it first surfaced back in Oct. [2015]. We combed through every Trump story in our archive. We couldn’t find anything remotely like this quote — and no interview at all in 1998.

Archival checks of People from 1998 show that coverage of Trump focused primarily on his personal life and divorces from Ivana Trump and Marla Maples. While records indicate Trump did harbor political ambitions during the late 1990s, no credible publication ever printed remarks disparaging Republican voters in the manner alleged by the meme.

Sources