Donald Trump has been on the Howard Stern Show many times before he ran for president. Most of these interviews are easy to find on the internet. I believe that in understanding another’s essence, one simply needs to listen to the words they speak. Howard Stern was talented in bringing out the lewdness of his guests, and Trump was never an exception. He loved to talk about himself, brag about his conquests, and physically rate women.

There is a particular interview that stunned me, for it clearly brought Trumps deficiency of human compassion into focus.

Nine years ago, during such an interview, Trump told this story about the time he thought he saw an elderly man fall to his death at a charity ball at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. I offer no personal commentary other than to caution the reader of the shocking dialogue. I do wonder if his presidential rise to power would have happened if more Americans fully understood Donald Trump’s lack of human empathy.

“I was at Mar-a-Lago and we had this incredible ball, the Red Cross Ball, in Palm Beach, Florida. And we had the Marines. And the Marines were there, and it was terrible because all these rich people, they’re there to support the Marines- but they’re really there to get their picture in the Palm Beach Post. So you have all these really rich people, and a man, about 80 years old- very wealthy man, a lot of people didn’t like him- he fell off the stage.

“So what happens is, this guy falls off right on his face, hits his head, and I thought he died. And you know what I did? I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away.

“I couldn’t, you know, he was right in front of me and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him. He’s bleeding all over the place, I felt terrible. You know, beautiful marble floor, didn’t look like it. It changed color- became very red. And you have this poor guy, 80 years old, laying on the floor unconscious, and all the rich people are turning away. ‘Oh my God! This is terrible! This is disgusting!’ and you know, they’re turning away. Nobody wants to help the guy. His wife is screaming- she’s sitting right next to him, and she’s screaming.

“What happens is, these 10 Marines from the back of the room… they come running forward, they grab him, they put the blood all over the place- it’s all over their uniforms- they’re taking it, they’re swiping (it), they ran him out, they created a stretcher. They call it a human stretcher, where they put their arms out with, like, five guys on each side.

“I was saying, ‘Get that blood cleaned up! It’s disgusting!’ The next day, I forgot to call (the man) to say he’s OK. It’s just not my thing.”

July 20, 2008.