Howard Stern on Tuesday expressed his surprise and frustration at decisions made by former President Donald Trump. He added that Trump's miscalculations have prevented him from becoming a popular Republican president like Ronald Reagan.
Speaking on SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Show, the popular host addressed Trump's controversial dinner last week with Kanye West—who legally changed his name to Ye in 2021—and white supremacist Nick Fuentes. (Trump has since posted statements on his Truth Social platform in which he said he did not know who Fuentes was when he visited Mar-a-Lago.)
"I was watching the news, as I do before the show, and once again, I can't help but be shocked that Donald Trump somehow always misses being Ronald Reagan," Stern said.
Stern, who used to have Trump as a guest on his show before Trump began his political career, is a frequent critic of the Republican. In recent weeks, Stern has also aimed his criticism at Ye following the rap star's antisemitic comments posted on social media.
On Tuesday, Stern compared Fuentes to David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
"Like, what a great opportunity to have, you know, like all of a sudden he meets this guy Nick Fuentes, who I'd never heard of before. He's evidently like the new David Duke, and Kanye West. Like he missed the opportunity to go, 'I would never meet with racists or antisemites,'" Stern said.
He continued, "Like, look, you always think there's one opportunity where he could kind of go and do the right thing. But he's amazing. He always does like the opposite. It's like he does the opposite of what you would think."
When Stern's co-host Robin Quivers said Stern was being optimistic for believing Trump would do the right thing, he replied, "Yeah. Like by accident, do the right thing. You know what I mean? Like maybe he would've said like, you know, 'Jesus Christ, I got a Jewish son-in-law. My daughter is converted to Judaism and my grandchildren are Jewish.'"
Stern also said Trump reminded him of Bizarro Superman, the comic book clone of Superman who acted in a manner opposite of the superhero. He characterized the former president as someone who "just does everything the opposite of the way a normal person thinks."
"You'd think there'd be a moment where he'd be like, Trump would go, 'You know, I could be like the next Ronald Reagan if I just did a couple of things right? Maybe I'll throw Kanye West and this guy out of Mar-a-Lago and then like, maybe some people will, you know, I'll broaden my base and people will think maybe I'm the next Ronald Reagan or something.' It's crazy. He never, he never, he never steps up."
Newsweek reached out to Trump for comment.
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Jon Jackson is an Associate Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine ... Read more
