Trump Feared Being Killed By A Tomato Or Pineapple ("Very Violent, Dangerous Stuff")His Security Was On Alert: "They Were Going To Do Fruit ... They Were Going To Hit Hard"

We were put on alert that they were going to do fruit.

In a deposition held on October 18, 2021, Donald Trump expressed a fear of being killed by "dangerous" fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes, pineapples, and bananas that might be thrown at him by protesters. (I'm curious about the oranges of this fear of fruit.)

The Daily Beast reports Trump was testifying under oath in a civil lawsuit brought by protesters alleging they were assaulted by his security guards outside his New York offices in 2015.

From the transcript (my emphasis):

[Attorney Benjamin Dictor:] Mr. President . . . [at a rally, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa] you said that "if you see someone getting ready to throw a tomato, just knock the crap out of them, would you". That was your statement?

[Trump:] Oh yeah. It was very dangerous.

Q. What was very dangerous?

A. We were threatened.

Q. With what?

A. They were going to throw fruit. We were threatened, we had a threat.

Q. How did you become aware that there was a threat that people were going to throw fruit?

A. We were told. I thought Secret Service was involved in that, actually. But we were told. And you get hit with fruit, it's – no, it's very violent stuff. We were on alert for that.

Q. A tomato is a fruit after all, I guess.

A. And you know what –

Q. Judicial notice. [The lawyers apparently held a brief side discussion on tomatoes.]

Trump Attorney Jeffrey Goldman: It has seeds.

A. It's worse than tomato. It's other things also. But tomato, when they start doing that stuff, it's very dangerous. There was an alert out that day.

Q. Who were you speaking to when you said –

A. The audience.

Q. So you were speaking to the audience when you said if they saw someone getting ready to throw a tomato, just knock the crap out of them, would you?

A. That was to the audience. It was said sort of in jest. But maybe, you know, a little truth to it. It's very dangerous stuff. You can get killed with those things.

Q. So you were trying to incentivize people to engage in violence?

Goldman: Objection.

A. No, I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit. And some fruit is a lot worse than – tomatoes are bad, by the way. But it's very dangerous. . . . I wanted them to watch. They were on alert. I remember that specific event because everybody was on alert. They were going to hit – they were going to hit hard.

Q. Do you have any knowledge as to whether or not anybody was found to have tomatoes in their possession on that date?

A. I don't know. But it didn't happen. It worked out that nothing happened. It was – the speech was good . . .

Q. You said you were talking to the audience. But is the same true of your security? Do you expect your security to knock the crap out of someone if they see them about –

A. I was talking to the audience –

Q. Mr. President, please let me finish the question so we can get the whole record very clear. Is it your expectation that if your security guards see someone about to throw a tomato that they should knock the crap out of them?

A. Well, a tomato, a pineapple, a lot of other things they throw . . . Yeah, if the security saw that, I would say you have to – and it's not just me, it's other people in the audience get badly hurt. Yeah, I think that they have to be aggressive in stopping that from happening. Because if that happens, you can be killed if that happens.

Q. And getting aggressive includes the use of physical force?

A. To stop somebody from throwing pineapples, tomatoes, bananas, stuff like that, yeah, it's dangerous stuff.

* * *

This latest example of Trump's bottomless idiocy reminds me of his deranged comments during the summer of 2020 about protesters throwing "big bags of soup" at "our police":

Trump, July 31, 2020:

In cities across the nation, we've also seen police officers assaulted . . . they have cans of soup. 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. But a can of soup, you can really put some power into that, right? And then, when they get caught, they say, "No, this is soup for my family." They're so innocent. "This is soup for my family." It's incredible. And you have people coming over with bags of soup — big bags of soup. And they lay it on the ground, and the anarchists take it and they start throwing it at our cops, at our police. And if it hits you, that's worse than a brick because that's got force. It's the perfect size. It's, like, made perfect. And when they get caught, they say, "No, this is just soup for my family." And then the media says, "This is just soup. These people are very, very innocent. They're innocent people. These are just protesters. Isn't it wonderful to allow protesting?" No, there's — and, by the way, the media knows it better than we do. They know what's going on. I don't know what's wrong with them. They're doing our country a tremendous disservice — I'll say that. . . .

Trump in July: And you have people coming over with bags of soup and the anarchists... start throwing it at our cops... And if it hits you, that’s worse than a brick because that’s got force... And when they get caught, they say, “No, this is just soup for my family.” pic.twitter.com/xs9tcY9aA5

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) September 1, 2020

(Those bags of soup are unrelated to the gazpacho police, by the way.)

Roughly two months later, Trump reported the evil anarchists had added cans of tuna to their deadly arsenal:

"These are friendly protests." That's a lovely thing to say. As he's getting rocks and cans of tuna fish. They go out to buy tuna fish and soup. You know that, right? Goya. I hope Goya, he's great, isn't he? Good guy. They go out and buy Goya because they throw it. They throw it. It's the perfect weight, tuna fish, they could really rip it, right, and that hits you. No, it's true. Bumblebee brand tuna, and you can throw that sucker. You can put a curve on it, you can do whatever else you want. . . . But they're professionals, they're anarchists. They're paid for by outside stupid rich people that . . . They're stupid people. . . . But you know, they're very smart.

Everything is perfect. Do you ever see where they drop the bricks along the thing in a bag? Then they drop, everyone picks them up, throws them at our great police. . . . There's like 30 cans of soup. They have like 25 cans of tuna. They get caught. "I'm bringing this home to my family. How dare you stop me?" No, no, no. They use it as ammunition. It's terrible. . . .

Over Labor Day. Left-wing radicals rampaged through Pittsburgh, harassing diners at restaurants. I saw that one. That was horrible. No, I saw that, right? I saw that. That one guy grabs a woman, a older woman, she's eating a steak. He grabbed the steak and started eating it, then he threw it back on the plate. An outdoor place, and her husband standing there like they're afraid for their lives. It was a terrible thing, and should never be allowed to happen. A thing like that should just be closed up before it ever gets started. That was terrible. Remember that? An older woman.

The president on violent protesters: "Cans of tuna fish. They go out and buy tuna fish and soup. You know that, right?...Because they throw it. It's the perfect weight, tuna fish, they can really rip it, right? And that hits you. No, it's true. Bumble Bee brand tuna."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 23, 2020

Incredible! INCREDIBLE! The soup conspiracy is back! The whole country made fun of him over this for like two straight days, and he's back into it! HOW CAN ANYONE BE THIS STUPID?

— Hemry, Local Bartender (@BartenderHemry) September 23, 2020

Sorry Charlie....

— Ellen (@ElJodog2) September 23, 2020

Bumble Bee, because when you’re a Starkist they let you do anything.

— 𝗅𝖾𝖾𝗂𝖺☄️ (@hey_leia) September 23, 2020