Trump invokes dad of wealthy Princess Di boyfriend to make crass joke about Iranians
Donald Trump made an off-color reference to the father of Princess Diana’s boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, during his remarks Wednesday at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas as he joked about his war in Iran.
The president delivered the keynote address on night one of the two-day convention in Texas, where Republicans are trying to rally support for flagging candidates nationwide in the face of a resurgent Democratic opposition. As he spoke about the war in Iran, he made an unexplained reference to Mohamed Al-Fayed and mocked his Arabic name in the process.
Speaking about a potential attack on Pickaxe Mountain, an alleged Iranian nuclear site, Trump told a whooping crowd that the U.S. Space Force could “see everything” taking place at secure Iranian facilities: “We can see everything. We can see the tag on their coat. ‘Mohamed Al-Fayed.’
Al-Fayed, an Egyptian businessman and wealthy owner of the iconic London Harrods department store, had no connections to Iran. It’s not clear who else Trump could’ve been referring to, or why he brought up Al-Fayed, whose name he repeated with several pronunciations.
“Myhamed– it’s never Myhamed, it’s never Mohamed Jones. Myhamad Azuri.”
A crowd laughed along as the president finished the racist tangent.
The moment was just one of many surreal moments of the night, as Trump “weaved” through a campaign-style speech attacking Democratic candidates and talking up Republicans fighting for control of battleground districts and states in House and Senate fights playing out around the country. Among the Democrats attacked by Trump were Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Angie Nixon in Florida, as well as James Talarico — who has turned typically-red Texas into a Senate battleground underpinning this week’s convention in Dallas.
While it isn’t clear why Trump chose the late father of the tragedy-stricken Dodi Fayed, partner to Diana, Princess of Wales, for inclusion in his jibe Wednesday evening, the reason could stem back to his known fixation on the British royal family. Al-Fayed, who died in 2023, spent the last years of his life facing serious allegations of rape, sexual assault and harassment, along with abuse of women in the workplace.
Trump often speaks of his relationship with the former Queen, while conversely making political foes of Harry and Meghan Markle, seen as more progressive members of the family who recently moved back to the U.K. from America to raise their children.
In his book The Art of the Comeback, Trump once wrote of his desire to date the British royal who won outsized popularity in America and the U.K., in part due to her extensive charity work: “I only have one regret in the women department, that I never had the opportunity to court Lady Diana Spencer.”
During an interview with the BBC in 1988, resurfaced by the Daily Mail, Trump also claimed to have known Mohamed Al-Fayed and visited him at his home.
“We were with a man yesterday, Mohamed Al-Fayed — who owns Harrods — and he is a fabulous man,” Trump says in a clip from the interview.
Trump’s war with Iran is seen by many Republicans on the Hill, including in the battleground races he spoke about Wednesday, as an anchor around their ankles as they attempt to tread water against unfavorable midterm currents.
Americans largely oppose the war and the president’s handling of it. A poll taken in mid-August found that nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults oppose the war, compared to less than a third who support it. Less than seven in ten Republicans now think continuing the conflict is a good idea.
