US president Donald Trump once detailed why he’s never touched booze in his whole life, unlike many of his political predecessors.
The 79-year-old, who is currently in his second term of presidency and has been making some controversial moves regarding immigration, tariffs and the Jeffrey Epstein files, was a guest on Theo Von’s podcast This Past Weekend last year, when his sobriety was highlighted.
“I noticed at the events you don’t drink or smoke, right? You never have?” asked the podcaster.
His world-leading guest proceeded to explain how a family member’s demise contributed greatly to him staying far away from any intoxicants.
This was covered in the 2024 biopic of Trump, The Apprentice, starring Sebastian Stan as the young entrepreneur as he built a real estate empire in New York City during the 1970s-80s.
“No I never have,” replied the politician. “I had a great brother who taught me a lesson.”
This was Fred Trump Jr, who sadly passed away from a heart attack at the age of 42 in 1981.
“He smoked and drank – great guy – he was a very handsome guy,” continued his brother. “He had a problem with alcohol and smoked a lot but I tell people, ‘No drugs, no drinking, no cigarettes’. I tell that to my kids all the time.
“So he was old enough that you would look up to somebody and I’d look up to him. I admired so much about him, he had so much going [for him]. He had the look, he had an unbelievable personality.”
Fred’s battle with alcohol addiction ‘amazed’ the future president in that his body could tolerate so much damage.
“I think it had probably happened in college at a fraternity maybe? Somewhere along the line it happened and all of a sudden – this is not unique, this is a very common story unfortunately – the family would see it and start to notice it and it didn’t get better.
“He lived for so long in bad conditions. I was amazed his body could hold out, it held out and it had bad moments but his body was unbelievably strong that it could withstand this.”
Von was then told that Trump could envision himself as a potential addict if he’d ever sampled the wet stuff.
Trump was clearly affected by his older sibling’s deterioration and he hasn’t hidden away from that fact over the years.
Per Fox News, he said back in 2018: “I had a brother, Fred – great guy, best-looking guy, best personality, much better than mine. But he had a problem, he had a problem with alcohol and he would tell me ‘don’t drink, don’t drink.
“He had a very, very tough life because of alcohol. He was a strong guy but it was a tough, tough thing that he was going through. I learned because of Fred.”