"When I was growing up, and other people I knew were getting into trouble, I was somewhere in a deer stand or going to bed early so I could be up before dawn to hunt turkeys. My love of the outdoors kept me solid"
About this Quote
The line works because it’s less about wildlife than belonging. “Up before dawn” signals discipline, but it also signals an America coded as authentic: cold air, early mornings, self-reliance, a private code. That’s a cultural credential, especially for a public figure whose name reads, to many, as coastal, gilded, and inherited. The outdoors functions as a cross-class passport: you can be a businessman with a famous last name and still claim the folk virtue of the guy who knows his land, his seasons, his rifle, his patience.
The subtext is defensive and strategic. In the Trump era, “trouble” carries political overtones - scandal, indulgence, elites behaving badly. By crediting nature with keeping him “solid,” he borrows the language of recovery and character formation without confessing to anything. It’s a makeover narrative where the cleanser is not accountability but fresh air.
Context matters: this is branding as much as memory. Hunting isn’t just recreation; it’s a cultural handshake to rural conservatives, a statement that his identity wasn’t built only in boardrooms but in camo, silence, and dawn.
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Jr., Donald Trump. (2026, January 15). When I was growing up, and other people I knew were getting into trouble, I was somewhere in a deer stand or going to bed early so I could be up before dawn to hunt turkeys. My love of the outdoors kept me solid. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-i-was-growing-up-and-other-people-i-knew-173281/
Chicago Style
Jr., Donald Trump. "When I was growing up, and other people I knew were getting into trouble, I was somewhere in a deer stand or going to bed early so I could be up before dawn to hunt turkeys. My love of the outdoors kept me solid." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-i-was-growing-up-and-other-people-i-knew-173281/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"When I was growing up, and other people I knew were getting into trouble, I was somewhere in a deer stand or going to bed early so I could be up before dawn to hunt turkeys. My love of the outdoors kept me solid." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-i-was-growing-up-and-other-people-i-knew-173281/. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.



