‘You Can Be Killed If That Happens’: Trump Feared Flying Fruit

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 02: U.S. President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat while looking at exhibits during a Spirit of America Showcase in the Entrance Hall of the White House July 02, 2020 in Washington, DC. The president visited with representatives from invited companies like Weber-Stephen Products, the Texas Timber Wood Bat Company, Scars & Stripes Coffee, Carolina Pie, Fruit of the Earth, Nautilus Fishing Company and others. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Donald Trump was afraid of fruit.

Specifically, the former president said he feared that protesters would assault him with “very dangerous” fruits like tomatoes, pineapples, and bananas.

“You can be killed if that happens,” Trump told lawyers during an October deposition. Trump was forced to sit for the interview as part of a lawsuit initiated by protestors who allege that Trump ordered his security team to brutalize them.

Excerpts from the deposition were made public on Tuesday.

@maddow read this amazing deposition from the former president* where he talked about the threats he faced from tomatoes and pineapples, and I can't be the only person who heard this.https://t.co/snUNJKne0N
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) April 28, 2022

Trump was asked about a February 2016 rally in Iowa in which he instructed the crowd to “knock the crap” out of any fruit-wielding protesters. The Washington Post reports:

“I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit,” Trump said in the October 2021 deposition, according to a transcript of the proceedings.
He added that “tomatoes are bad” and that “some fruit is a lot worse.”
“But it’s very dangerous. … I remember that specific event, because everybody was on alert. They were going to hit — they were going to hit hard,” he said.

Just thinking back to the good old days when Trump wasn’t afraid of fruit-throwers but soup-throwers: “And then they have cans of soup. And They throw the cans of soup. That’s better than a brick because you can’t throw a brick, it’s too heavy.”
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) April 28, 2022

The Post adds:

The incident was one of several in which Trump encouraged violence against his detractors, often framing such actions as justifiable in the name of “self-defense.”
“So I got a little notice, in case you’re seeing these security guys — we have wonderful security guys,” Trump said at the Iowa rally. “They said, ‘Mr. Trump, there may be somebody with tomatoes in the audience.’ So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Okay?”
Trump pledged that he would “pay for the legal fees” for anyone who followed his directions, adding, “They won’t be so much, because the courts agree with us, too.”

Ultimately, no fruit was thrown at Trump.