PoliticsDonald Trump Praises Musician Who Admitted He Was 'Addicted' to Having Intercourse With Underage Girls: 'He's Been a Friend of Mine'
Donald Trump praised rally guest, rocker Ted Nugent, who has bragged about bedding children.
Oct. 20 2026, Published 1:00 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump praised MAGA rock singer Ted Nugent during a campaign rally in Wichita, Kan., on Monday night, October 19.
Nugent had joined Trump on stage to help boost Republican Sen. Roger Marshall in his tight midterm election race against Democratic candidate Adam Hamilton.
Trump commended Nugent while addressing the crowd, making no mention of the musician's controversial past behavior or previous admission to bragging about bedding underage girls.
Donald Trump Says Ted Nugent Is 'a Man That Gets It'
Donald Trump praised MAGA rocker Ted Nugent for being 'smart as h---.'
“And I got to watch him speak up here,” Trump said of Nugent at the rally. “He’s pretty good. But he’s been my friend from the beginning. He’s a man that gets it. He’s a guy with common sense. He’s smart as h-ll, actually. He plays the game. Like, you know, ‘Oh, let’s be country and all.’ But the truth is, he’s country, but he is one smart cookie, and he gets it and understands what’s happening, Ted Nugent."
During his own appearance before Trump took the stage, the 77-year-old Nugent urged attendees to vote for Marshall, saying, “I'm not gonna let my beloved United States of America continue down the toilet for my grandkids.”
Nugent’s troubling past admissions are well documented. In a 1998 interview with VH1, he admitted to having relationships with underage girls, and his 1981 song "Jailbait" describes pursuing a 13-year-old girl.
'I Was Addicted to Girls'
Nugent bragged about bedding a teenage girl whose parents allegedly gave consent.
“I was addicted to girls. It was hopeless. It was beautiful,” he said, adding that he got approval from the children’s parents.
“I got the stamp of approval of their parents,” Nugent said at the time. “I guess they figured better Ted Nugent than some drug-infested punk in high school.”
In 2013, grunge star Courtney Love alleged she had a sexual encounter with Nugent when she was 14.
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Minnesotans protested Ted Nugent's appearance at a county fair.
When Nugent was announced as the headliner at a Minnesota county fair in 2018, people were appalled.
Organizers of a protest against Nugent wrote to the Albert Lea Tribune at the time that the county fair board's mission statement is to hold a “moral, clean fair which will command the support of the whole community.”
“It has usually upheld that standard,” the organizers continued, “but this year it has brought in a performer who habitually denigrates women and minorities in public forums.”
Ted Nugent Wrote Song About Pursuing 13-Year-Old Girl
Ted Nugent's song 'Jailbait' is about pursuing a 13-year-old girl.
“One of his songs ('Jailbait') describes his sexual pursuit of a 13-year-old girl. We’re disturbed by his pattern of behavior and even more disturbed that he was chosen to represent our fair in spite of it. We want to send a positive message that Albert Lea is a civil, welcoming community and a great place to raise children," they wrote.
The allegations aren’t confined to Nugent, however.
An anonymous woman using the pseudonym "Jane Doe" filed and later voluntarily dropped a federal civil lawsuit in 2016 alleging that Trump and dead child abuser Jeffrey Epstein sexually assaulted her in 1994 when she was 13 years old.
Trump's legal team flatly denied the allegations, and the plaintiff dropped the case.
