Barry Goldwater’s widow is not a fan of Donald Trump being compared to her late husband—or the fact that he plans to fundraise at the late Arizona senator’s estate, according to The Washington Post.
Susan Goldwater Levine couldn’t hide her disdain for Trump when speaking to the newspaper on Thursday, saying that her husband would be angry that Trump is fundraising at his estate.
“Ugh or yuck is my response,” Goldwater Levine told the Post. “I think Barry would be appalled that his home was being used for that purpose. Barry would be appalled by Mr. Trump’s behavior—the unintelligent and unfiltered and crude communications style. And he’s shallow—so, so shallow.”
Goldwater Levine slammed comparisons between her late husband, who was a contentious figure in the GOP when he ran for president in 1964, and Trump, calling Goldwater a “humanist” who had respect for all people.
“I can’t believe we are doing this as a country,” she told the Post. “Barry was so true to his convictions and would never be issuing these shallow, crude, accusatory criticisms of the other party or the other person.”
Party leaders have made several connections between Trump and Goldwater, who similarly alienated voters with racially-charged remarks and fractured the GOP. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently wondered if Trump would have a “Goldwater effect” on the party.
Trump is scheduled to hold an event Saturday at the Goldwater estate in Paradise Valley, Arizona, which will reportedly draw 75 donors with ticket prices starting at $2,700, according to the Arizona Republic. The Goldwaters no longer own the property; two years after Barry Goldwater’s death, his family sold the estate to Robert Hobbs, an area business and civic leader, and his wife, Karen, according to The Washington Post.
When the newspaper asked Hobbs to respond to Goldwater Levine’s comments, he seemed to brush off her concerns, saying he was hosting the event out of loyalty to the party.
“She was his second wife; she’s not his first wife,” Hobbs told The Washington Post. “So she came along later in life… She’s entitled to her opinion, but Barry was a Republican and Donald Trump’s a Republican, and we’re going to support whoever the Republican nominee is.”
