Why does Trump talk about sharks so much?

Donald Trump is not what most people would call an "environmentalist" or "naturalist." For years, he has peppered his conversations and public addresses with observations about various animals, asking his top advisers about how badgers "work" and expressing frustration at wind turbines he believes have "killed so many eagles."

But one animal has been his focus above all others: sharks. Sharks are "last on my list," Trump said in 2013, saying that the only things he disliked more were "perhaps the losers and haters of the World!" 

Trump's thoughts about sharks surfaced again this past weekend when, during a rally in Las Vegas, he pivoted to an anecdote about whether he would rather die by electrocution in a sinking electric boat or face a hungry shark waiting for him in nearby waters.

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Trump is "obsessed with sharks, terrified of sharks," Stormy Daniels said in 2018. "He was like, 'I donate to all these charities, and I would never donate to any charity that helps sharks. I hope all the sharks die.'"

What's behind Trump's opinions on sharks, and how has it contributed to the once, and potentially future, president's worldview to date? 

What does it mean?

In the moments before her tryst with Trump, Daniels recalled that the not-yet president "made me sit and watch an entire documentary about shark attacks" before anything physical. But if Trump dislikes sharks as much as he claims to, "why doesn’t he watch, literally, anything else?" Elle asked. Is his addiction to watching shark attack footage "equivalent to the rest of us watching the [then-]president?" 

Trump's shark-related comments in his public remarks highlight a "beef with the animals" that's "irrational, though not entirely unsurprising," The Daily Beast said. The former president not only "apparently doesn't enjoy swimming" but is allegedly "so disturbed by the sight of blood that he once let an 80-year-old man bleed profusely at his feet instead of helping him — and at a charity ball, no less." 

While Trump's focus on sharks is a "baffling combination of pathetic, relatable and hilarious," that same combination makes it strangely "endearing," as well, Slate said. Moreover, his dislike of sharks offers an "excellent reflection of what exactly is so completely toxic about the man's character." Sharks are a "physical distillation of what Trump hates the most: power in the hands of anyone but him, existential uncertainty, nature."

Trump's latest shark comments, a similar version of the story he offered late last year in Iowa, came during the part of his speech where he "rails against electric cars and claims, falsely, that Joe Biden is dead set on making all military tanks fully electric and nonfunctional," Margaret Hartmann said at Intelligencer . And his mindset may have political ramifications. "If voters return Trump to the White House, he would likely deploy a group of officials to work on the boat/battery/shark issue and expect them to report back on their progress," Steve Benen said at MSNBC. In Trump's mind, the issues are intractably, and actionably, related.

How has Trump impacted sharks?

Trump's dislike of sharks has become a significant part of his personality, but the former president likely doesn't have much direct exposure to them. That doesn't mean, however, that he may not have made an indirect impact on them. As president, Trump's frequent trips to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida regularly disrupted Florida Atlantic University biologist Stephen Kajiura's research into blacktip sharks, since the "sprawling Palm Beach estate is 'right along the survey path,'" said Kajiura to The Washington Post. 

Conversely, Trump's anti-shark comments have prompted a significant "uptick in donations" for various shark conservation groups, the BBC said in 2018. One had the message "Because Trump."