Former U.S. President Donald Trump once compared his efforts to avoid sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) during his dating life in the 1980s to his own “personal Vietnam.”

Ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, a remark made by Trump in the 1990s resurfaced on social media. On August 8, 2024, a post on X claimed that Trump had described avoiding STDs as his “personal Vietnam.”

The post included a 25-second clip from Trump’s 1997 appearance on Howard Stern’s radio show, where Stern interviewed Trump, who was then a New York real estate mogul, about his sexual experiences.

It’s true that Trump made this statement during his appearance on “The Howard Stern Show,” drawing a comparison between avoiding STDs and his “personal Vietnam.” Therefore, this claim has been rated as “Correct Attribution.”

A longer version of the clip is also available on YouTube.

In the video, Trump is seen in a studio being interviewed by Stern and his co-host Robin Quivers. The two men joked about surviving the 1980s with their sexual health intact. During the conversation, Stern initially compared the situation to the Vietnam War, a comparison Trump echoed. Here is a transcript of that exchange:

Howard Stern: Now, getting back to dating, right? And when you have to say to a woman, “Hey, listen, you’ve got to go to my personal doctor, and I’m going to have you checked out,” is that a tough thing to say to a woman, or do you just have the guts to say it?

Donald Trump: You know? I tell you, it’s amazing. I can’t even believe it. I’ve been so lucky in terms of that whole world.

Howard Stern: You’ve never gotten a social disease.

Donald Trump: It is a dangerous world out there. It is scary. It’s like Vietnam, sort of like, you know, the Vietnam era.

Howard Stern: It is. It is your personal Vietnam.

Donald Trump: It is my personal Vietnam.

Howard Stern: You’ve said that many times.

Donald Trump: I feel like a great and very brave soldier.

In an earlier 1993 interview with Stern, the two discussed Trump’s dating life during the 1980s AIDS crisis. According to a 2016 BuzzFeed News report:

“If you’re young and in this era, and if you have any guilt about not having gone to Vietnam, we have our own Vietnam. It’s called the dating game,” he said during a discussion about Trump’s well-known germaphobia and the ongoing AIDS epidemic.

“It’s pretty dangerous out there, Robin. It’s like Vietnam,” Trump said earlier in the interview.

“It is, it is,” Stern responded. “The dating scene is like Vietnam.”

“Dating is like being in Vietnam,” Trump added. “You’re the equivalent of a soldier going over to Vietnam.”

Stern reflected on his 1997 radio interview with Trump in his 2019 memoir, Howard Stern Comes Again, where he transcribed it and confirmed that he was the one who first introduced Trump’s “personal Vietnam” comment, with Trump repeating the line.

In a 2019 interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Stern revisited his 1997 conversation with Trump, acknowledging that it was a tongue-in-cheek, joking scenario, not intended to suggest that Trump was seriously equating his experiences to those of Vietnam veterans. This reference can be found at the 1:30 mark of the interview.

Trump, now 78, is running for another shot at the presidency in the November 2024 election. Although he did not serve in the military, Trump was of age during the Vietnam War era when males 18 and older were eligible for the draft. He obtained four student draft deferments while attending college and was later disqualified from serving, except in a time of war or national emergency, due to bone spurs in both heels. Trump’s deferment history has been confirmed via Selective Service records obtained from the U.S. National Archives by The Smoking Gun in 2011.

Snopes has previously reported on interviews conducted by Stern, including fact-checking his recent interview with President Joe Biden, and Trump’s admission to Stern that he entered changing rooms of beauty pageant contestants.