Howard Stern is a long-time New York radio personality who has known Donald Trump for many years. Trump has been a frequent guest on Stern’s show over many decades. During the Presidential campaign, several tapes were broadcasted of Trump making crude and misogynistic comments about women on the Howard Stern Show. Stern, who admitted during the 2020 campaign to being a Hillary Clinton supporter, has been asked numerous times by major news outlets to comment on many of Trump’s behaviors and scandals. However, despite his knowledge of potentially damaging information about Trump through their long acquaintance, Stern has remained respectful and silent. When he does disagree with something Trump has done or said, he will voice his disagreement without disparaging Trump as a person. But today, Stern and his sidekick of many years, Robin Quivers did not hold back on their disgust at Trump’s egocentric, narcissistic, political move of insisting his name be put on the stimulus checks.
Stern also castigated the White House staff, saying, “isn’t there anyone left in the White House with the guts to have gone to Trump and told him how badly this would reflect on him?” Quivers added she thought his action was an “asshole” move. Both hosts revealed concern about Trump’s obsession with making everything about himself. His continuous bragging and bringing attention to himself during the coronavirus pandemic seems to have been the tipping point for Stern’s restraint. Today, for millions of his listeners to hear, Stern did not hold back his passionate disapproval of how Trump’s narcissism has caused severe mishandling of the pandemic.
Stern shows deep compassion for the emotional and physical suffering Americans are experiencing during COVID-19. He expressed the belief that for Trump to cause even a slight delay in the sending of the stimulus checks is a cold and unnecessary action. Another intelligent and essential point Stern made was that the money for the stimulus payout is not Trump’s money. He pointed out that Trump was not allowed to sign the checks because the money is from the IRS, not him. He added for a guy who won’t release his tax returns, it’s ironic Trump feels entitled to have his name placed on checks that financially have nothing to do with him. Of course, having a wimp, sycophant like Steven Minuchin as Treasury Secretary made this inappropriate action possible. This latest move by Trump is just another example of what thousands of mental health professionals have been warning the public about since his election. The president suffers from narcissism and looking through that lens, his decisions and policies have been directed towards what is best for him personally and politically, not what is best for the people of the country.
The emoluments clause violations, the withholding of his taxes, attacking all branches of government, calling the free press “the enemy of the people,” disrespecting the military when his judgment is challenged, breaking laws, and obstructing justice is proof enough that Trump is a false patriot and unfit and undeserving to be president of the United States. Stern took the opportunity today to voice his disgust at Trump’s insistence that his name appears on the stimulus checks. Let’s hope Howard influenced some of Trump’s diehard supporters that his man should not be re-elected.
