Q&A: Frederick Douglass and Donald Trump

Kirk Ericson | Apr 13, 20230

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” (1855) — Frederick Douglass, former U.S. slave

“Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.” (2017) — Donald Trump, then-U.S. president

Moderator: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight, we have a really special event for you. Through the magic of cyber-optical, quantum-artificial intelligence, we bring you a question-and-answer session with two of the most influential persons of their centuries. Allow me to introduce the orator, writer and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and Donald Trump, ex-U.S. president. We’ll kick off this very special event by having both of our esteemed guests answer the same questions. First question: What do you consider the current state of America? Mr. Douglass, you start, and Mr. Trump, please hop in when Mr. Douglass is done.

Trump: The USA is a mess ...

Moderator: Please, Mr. Trump. When Mr. Douglass is done …

Douglass: The American people have this to learn: that where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither person nor property is safe.

Moderator: OK, Mr. Trump.

Trump: The USA is a mess. Our economy is crashing, inflation is out of control. Russia has joined with China. Can you believe that? Saudi Arabia has joined with Iran. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have formed together as a menacing and destructive coalition. It would’ve never happened if I were your president, it would never have happened, nor would Russia attack in Ukraine have happened. All of those lives would be saved. All of those beautiful cities would be standing. Our currency is crashing and will soon no longer be the world’s standard, which will be our greatest defeat, frankly, in 200 years …

Moderator: OK, OK. Next question. What’s the proper role for Christianity in American culture and politics? You can go first, Mr. former president.

Trump: Christianity will have power. If I’m there, you’re going to have plenty of power, you don’t need anybody else. You’re going to have somebody representing you very, very well. Remember that.

Douglass: I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial, and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels.

Moderator: Final question, can each of you please share a story from your youth that you think shaped your character. Mr. Douglass …

Douglass: Grandmother pointed out my brother Perry, my sister Sarah, and my sister Eliza, who stood in the group. I had never seen my brother nor my sisters before; and, though I had sometimes heard of them, and felt a curious interest in them, I really did not understand what they were to me, or I to them. We were brothers and sisters, but what of that? Why should they be attached to me, or I to them? Brothers and sisters were by blood; but slavery had made us strangers. I heard the words brother and sisters and knew they must mean something; but slavery had robbed these terms of their true meaning.

Trump: It has not been easy for me, it has not been easy for me. And you know I started off in Brooklyn, my father gave me a small loan of a million dollars.