Howard Stern Feels Trumped Up By First Debate

Howard Stern inks new 5-year Sirius deal. Image by Getty Images

By Daniel J. Solomon September 30, 2016

Howard Stern never expected he’d figure into an American presidential race. The talk-show host told BuzzFeed News that it felt surreal when he got name-checked at Monday night’s debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, as the candidates disputed Trump’s opposition to the Iraq War.

“Now I can check that off on my bucket list,” Stern bragged. “I’ve officially been mentioned in a presidential debate. It was weird… Yeah, it was cool. Good promotion.”

He added that he had hoped it might give him an extra boost of admiration from his wife—but to no avail.

“I was laying there in bed watching it with Beth, and she was half-asleep already. She did wake up when she heard “Howard Stern,” and I was giggling. I thought maybe sex would go down because I was mentioned, but she was too tired,” he said.

Trump claimed on Monday night that he’d always been against the war, inviting a fact-check from moderator Lester Holt, who pointed out the serial prevaricator had endorsed the take-over of Iraq on Stern’s radio show, where he used to be a frequent guest.

When Stern asked Trump in 2002 if he supported military action, he answered: “Yeah, I guess so. You know, I wish the first time it was done correctly,” in an allusion to the earlier Gulf War.

Stern, a scare to parents and delight to teenage boys, has made several cameos in this year’s presidential race, due to his links with Trump. Back in his celebrity days, Trump made himself a regular on Stern’s program, and that material has made election news every now and then. Earlier in the campaign, BuzzFeed unearthed a series of recordings from the show that cast the Republican nominee in a harsh light due to sexist and off-color remarks.

With Stern’s goading, he rated women on their looks and boasted about how they wanted to sleep with him. “They’ll walk up, and they’ll flip their top, and they’ll flip their panties,” Trump, the seventy-year-old heart-throb, said.

He also displayed excellent parental instincts when talking about having another child with current wife Melania. “I mean, I won’t do anything to take care of them,” he said. “I’ll supply funds and she’ll take care of the kids. It’s not like I’m gonna be walking the kids down Central Park.”

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter at @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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