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.
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.
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.