Trump's Quotes On Death Reveal The Ultimate Crack In His Ego

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They say that death is the ultimate equalizer. Regardless of gender, race, class, or creed, it comes for all of us in the end. And despite his notorious ego that seemingly knows no bounds, President Donald Trump seems to know this just as well as anyone. Over the years, we've seen numerous cracks in Trump's prideful persona, such as his whiny social media posts that have highlighted his ego's fragility, or how he allows hits to that ego to overshadowed his legal victories. However, arguably the biggest crack in the former reality TV star's armor can be seen in how he talks about death. More specifically, the fact that he seems deeply insecure regarding how he will be perceived after he eventually passes away.

In principle, that's a perfectly valid concern to have. After all, after we're gone, we no longer have much of a say in how people talk about us. Trump's insecurities take things one step further, though, as even when he's publicly eulogizing another public figure, he can't help but make it about himself. In October 2021, nine months after his first presidential term ended and Joe Biden took his place in the White House, Trump released a backhanded statement regarding the death of former Secretary of State Colin Powell. "Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media," he wrote (via CNN), adding, "Hope that happens to me someday."

Another example of Donald Trump's ego at work is the fact that he allegedly viewed death itself as a sign of weakness at one point. In 2020, The Atlantic published a report claiming that Trump had dismissed the U.S. soldiers buried at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery as "losers" during a trip to France in 2018 — something Trump himself has repeatedly denied. Then, in their 2021 book "Nightmare Scenario," which covers the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta alleged that Trump had not only tried to make light of the disease behind the scenes, but even went as far as to make fun of those who had contracted it. More than 340,000 people would die from COVID in the U.S. alone that year.

But Trump reportedly changed his tune after he himself tested positive for COVID in October 2020. According to Intelligencer, the president lamented in a phone call after his diagnosis, "I could be one of the diers." Trump later received another reminder of his own mortality in July 2024, when a gunman tried and failed to assassinate him during a campaign rally. However, despite apparently being capable of deeper introspection, Trump would use this literal attempt on his life as another ego boost while accepting the Republican nomination that same month. "They just, this beautiful crowd, they didn't want to leave me. They knew I was in trouble. They didn't want to leave me. And you can see that love written all over their faces," he said (via The New York Times).