Former President Donald Trump’s nephew, Fred Trump III , opened up about the struggles he and his wife have faced as parents of a child with a disability.
William Trump, 25, was born with a genetic condition called KCNQ2, otherwise known as Developmental and Epileptic Encephalopathy, which stems from a mutation of the gene that connects to a potassium channel protein that’s active in the brain. William is nonverbal and wheelchair-bound, but he has never let that break his spirit. Fred told People in a 2024 interview, “William is the most courageous and inspirational person I’ve met … He needs assistance with everything he does, but there’s somebody within him. There is.”
Fred also detailed the struggle his family went through, and continues to experience, with finding care for William and even determining what his condition was. Fred expressed to People, “You talk about life-changing … when you have a child who has hundreds of seizures a day like William did, where did they come from? Why were they here? It literally took Lisa 15 years of investigation through the internet and such to find out that he had a genetic mutation called KCNQ2.” Once they had the information they needed to provide him with the proper care, they could move William to a group home where he could be cared for 24/7.
Donald Trump’s nephew revealed their family’s history of Alzheimer’s disease
Fred Trump III also wanted to set the record straight about his family’s history of Dementia and Alzheimer’s. In an interview with People in November 2024, just days before Donald Trump was elected as the 47th President of the United States, Fred spoke on Donald’s mental state. “Like anyone else, I’ve seen his decline. But I see it in parallel with the way my grandfather’s decline was. If anyone wants to believe that dementia did not run in the Trump family, it’s just not true.” Fred is referencing his grandfather and Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump Sr., who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1991, and ultimately passed away from the disease in 1999.
Donald Trump has, at many times, advocated for his mental state, has minimized the effect this disease has had on his family, and understated the risk that he is under for developing it. Fred Trump appeared as a guest on “The Dean Obeidallah Show,” where he detailed the hypocrisy coming from his uncle. “‘You know,’ Donald said, ‘Oh, my father was tiptop until the end.’ I can assure you, that was not the case … I know what I saw in my grandfather … I know what I saw in Donald’s older sister, my aunt Maryanne, who in the end … I am not a doctor, I don’t pretend to be. I just, I know the warning signs from both of my grandfathers.”