U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said in a speech: “Never hurt your mother, never disrespect her. Even in anger, never abandon her. Remember, she is the only one who loved you before you even took your first breath. She carried you for months, felt your every move, and endured pain just to bring you into this world. Can you imagine that, the depth of that love?”
A TikTok video posted in November 2024 (archived) featured a quote allegedly made by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump about never hurting one’s mother.
The video started by showing Trump making a speech before cutting to images of forests, people holding hands and other apparent stock footage. According to the clip, Trump said people should “never hurt,” “disrespect” or abandon their mothers “even in anger.” The quote continued:
Remember, she is the only one who loved you before you even took your first breath. She carried you for months, felt your every move, and endured pain just to bring you into this world. Can you imagine that, the depth of that love? She sacrificed her dreams, so you could pursue yours. But let me ask you, have you ever looked into her eyes and seen the silent prayers, the unspoken worries. Have you ever realized that every wrinkle on her face is a testament to the battle she fought for you? Never forget, she is more than the person who gave you life. She is the guardian of your soul. The keeper of your secrets. Your anchor in this chaotic world.
However, in short, there is no evidence Trump ever produced these words. In fact, numerous TikTok videos show the same passage being attributed to multiple public figures over several weeks in late 2024. As such, we have rated this claim as misattributed.
Searching for Trump’s name and a section of the above quote, as well as the full passage, on Google produced no examples of him saying anything similar, even though he has spoken about his own mother and his wife, Melania Trump, as a mother. Likewise, searching for the phrase “never hurt your mother” in the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library also yielded no such results.
In fact, the same quote has been attached to video footage of other notable people on TikTok, including rapper 50 Cent, talk show host Steve Harvey, Prince Harry and actors Denzel Washington, Sylvester Stallone and The Rock, among others.
These TikTok videos follow the same pattern — the famous people in question are never seen saying the actual words. Instead, unrelated clips of them speaking in a different setting are spliced into the audio. The voice-over is also adjusted to sound like the relevant public figure. For example, the video with Trump sounds like the president-elect, while the video with Prince Harry features an English accent.
Furthermore, the videos include imagery that was clearly generated using artificial intelligence software, often showing clouds, ocean floors, lakes and cityscapes that appear too bright to be real. None of the videos provide viewers with a real citation of a verified news source or a clip showing the individual saying the actual words. As such, they are immediately suspicious. The video featuring Washington even asks viewers to comment “Yes” if they agree with the sentiment expressed, thus pushing engagement.
The TikTok account that posted the fake Trump video also uses the same, unrelated short clip of Trump speaking in a different setting in many of its posts.
Trump has rarely shared details about his mother, according to news reports, and often described her in vague terms. In 2020, he told the hosts of Fox News’ morning talk show “Fox & Friends”: “I had a great mom. I loved my mom and she loved me, which … is probably not easy to do. … She was so good to me. I couldn’t do any wrong, which is a big problem. Maybe that’s why I ended up the way I ended up. I don’t know. I couldn’t do any wrong in her eyes.”
Between 2013 and 2015, he quoted the following words by his mother on his X account: “Advice from my mother, Mary MacLeod Trump: Trust in God and be true to yourself.”
Trump also said of his third wife: “My mother was a terrific woman and Melania has been a great mother to Barron.”