The Brutal Claim Don Jr.'s Classmate Made About Donald Trump
Rumors of a tense relationship between Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have abounded for years, but one claim certainly sticks out above the rest. Back in 2016, one of Donald Jr.'s former classmates took to social media to open up about a violent altercation he claimed to have witnessed between the father and son in a dorm building. Well, altercation might not be the word, because based on the account shared, the violence was fairly one-sided.
In a Facebook post ahead of the 2016 presidential elections, "The Wolf of All Streets" podcast host, Scott Melker recounted the day Donald Trump arrived at the University of Pennsylvania. He and Donald Jr. were scheduled to catch a baseball game together, and the businessman had come to fetch his son for the excursion. However, it seemed Donald was unimpressed by his eldest child's choice in attire. "Don Jr. opened the door, wearing a Yankee jersey. Without saying a word, his father slapped him across the face, knocking him to the floor in front of all of his classmates. He simply said, 'Put on a suit and meet me outside,' and closed the door," Melker wrote.
Heartbreakingly, Melker added that the group of classmates present wasn't a small one. Quite the contrary, the podcaster claimed that a number of starstruck fans had shown up in the hopes of seeing the celebrity businessman. That would have meant maximum embarrassment for the younger Trump — but we're not sure if there was any love lost at that point.
Scott Melker also said Don Jr. openly hated his dad
Scott Melker didn't leave his accounts of the Trump family at the slapping incident. In the same Facebook post, he went on to claim that Donald Trump Jr. and the man who went on to become the 45th president of the United States were anything but close during those college years. "He absolutely despised his father," Melker wrote.
Slapping aside, it's possible that stemmed from earlier tension Donald Jr. had faced with his dad. As Donald Jr. himself told New York magazine back in 2004, Donald Trump's affair with Marla Maples put a lot of strain on their relationship. Like his sister, Ivanka Trump, Donald Jr. learned of the affair on a ski trip at Christmastime. He was just 12 years old at the time, and the trauma of the situation (not at all helped by how public everything became), affected him in a big way. In fact, Donald Jr. told New York he sided with his mom, and refused to speak to Donald for a whole year.
Of course, they ended up speaking after that, and at the time of the interview with New York, Donald Jr. was working for his father. That said, it's worth noting that even then, Trump family members told the outlet they never saw that coming.
Don Jr.'s drinking was likely influenced by his parents' divorce
Other than talking about Donald Trump Jr.'s relationship with Donald Trump, Scott Melker also shared in his Facebook post that his classmate had been a very heavy drinker on campus. "Donald Jr. was a drunk in college. Every memory I have of him is of him stumbling around campus, falling over, or passing out in public, with his arm in a sling from injuring himself while drinking," he claimed.
It's worth noting that Donald Jr. has never denied that. In fact, in his interview with New York, he opened up about getting a little too wild in his college years. What's more, he even mused that it probably had something to do with the anger he had over witnessing his parents' marriage fall apart in such a public way. Nevertheless, not long after college, Donald Jr. stopped drinking alcohol altogether.
Despite copping to the heavy drinking and admitting to having a rocky relationship with his father for many of his teen years, Donald Jr. has never addressed Melker's claim about the slap — and we're not expecting that to change, either. Even with the rumors, it seems as though the two Donalds are at peace in public — and it's likely both want it to stay that way.