The widow of television legend Fred Rogers did not take kindly to Donald Trump visiting the hometown of the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood host this week.
On Thursday, the president held a campaign rally in the town of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where the PBS television host was born and raised. As The Daily Beast reported, Joanne Rogers said that her husband purposely avoided talking about politics because he was wary about complicating the lives of the children who watched his show, but said she felt no such obligation to remain quiet about Trump.
“Fred tried to stay pretty quiet about politics, basically because his program was for children,” she said. “I’m alone now. I don’t do a program for children.”
She went on to say that she was disappointed at what she sees as dishonesty from the president, who she called a “horrible person.”
“I think maybe the fact that Mr Trump seldom tells the truth,” she said. “If he does, it’s just a fluke, I think. But the fact [is] that I can’t believe anything he says, not even the simplest thing.”
The report added that the widow of the beloved PBS host did not mince words when addressing what she saw as deficiencies in the president’s character.
“This man is pathologically ill. Mentally ill.”
She went on to say that she is a supporter of Joe Biden, saying she sees the Democratic presidential candidate as honest and kind. She even defended Biden against criticism that he has become too touchy in the past, offering touches and hugs that have not always been welcomed. Biden has apologized after a series of women spoke up last year, though Rogers said it would not have bothered her.
“I said, ‘Listen, I understand that completely, I’m a hugger, and I would certainly want a hug from him,’” she told The Daily Beast .
Joanne Rogers also saw parallels between Biden and her husband in their support of young people who have disabilities. After watching a video that aired during the Democratic National Convention showing the Democratic candidate giving support to a 13-year-old boy who, like him, struggled with a stutter, Rogers said she was reminded of a famous segment from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood . In a 1981 episode, Fred Rogers hosted a 10-year-old named Jeff Erlanger who was in an electric wheelchair. Erlanger later served as a surprise guest when Rogers was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999.
