Trump Kept a Copy of Hitler’s Speeches Near His Bed: Report

Now, this is getting interesting. Turns out that President Donald Trump isn’t just found of Hitler’s politics; he’s reportedly also fond of his speeches.

In a lengthy 1990 piece in Vanity Fair, Trump begin waxing poetic about his German heritage, noting that his father’s parents were German—or Swedish, really (you know Trump can never give a straight answer to anything). He also added that they were from all over Europe. Anyway, John Walter, a Trump cousin who works for the Trump Organization, used to click his heels and say, “Heil Hitler,” possibly as a family joke, Vanity Fair notes.

Ivana Trump, Donald’s first wife, told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that Donald would read a book of Hitler’s collected speeches, My New Order, which was kept in a cabinet by his bed.

“Did your cousin John give you the Hitler speeches?” Vanity Fair reporter, Marie Brenner asked Trump.

Trump hesitated. “Who told you that?”

“I don’t remember,” I said.

“Actually, it was my friend Marty Davis from Paramount who gave me a copy of Mein Kampf, and he’s a Jew.” (“I did give him a book about Hitler,” Marty Davis said. “But it was My New Order, Hitler’s speeches, not Mein Kampf. I thought he would find it interesting. I am his friend, but I’m not Jewish.”)

Later, Trump returned to this subject. “If I had these speeches, and I am not saying that I do, I would never read them.”

The article does note that it was unclear whether Trump was a crypto-Nazi or just a collector of history, but it is a bit eerie to know that the leader of the free world used to keep a book of Hitler’s speeches in his nightstand.

Read more at Vanity Fair.