Donald Trump’s older brother Fred once told him to never start drinking. That brother later died from complications of his alcohol consumption. The message hit the president clearly in the middle of his forehead.
The president was in the White House Rose Garden to discuss his new financial agreement with Canada. When he opened the mike up to questions from reporters, they asked him about his nominee for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh.
As he answered reporters’ questions about Kavanaugh’s drinking habits, he said he believed his nominee was “really strong on the fact that he drank a lot.” Then, he turned the subject to himself.
In a rare moment of honesty, Trump admitted that not drinking was “one of my good traits,” according to this YouTube video:
‘I can honestly say I never had a beer in my entire life. It’s one of my only good traits. Can you imagine if I had, what a mess I’d be?’
His brother died in 1981, when he was only 43-years-old. Trump considered him a “great guy,” the “best-looking guy” with the “best personality — much better than mine,” according to POLITICO:
‘But he had a problem. He had a problem with alcohol.’
The president said his brother often told him “don’t drink” and “don’t smoke.” Trump indicated that he listened to Fred, because he respected him:
‘And to this day I’ve never had a drink, and I have no longing for it. I have no interest in it. To this day, I’ve never had a cigarette. Don’t worry: Those are only two of my good things. I don’t wanna tell you about the bad things. There’s plenty of bad things, too. But he really helped me. I had somebody that guided me, and he had a very, very, very tough life because of alcohol. Believe me. Very, very tough, tough life. He was a strong guy, but it was a tough, tough thing that he was going through. But I learned because of Fred. I learned. And that’s what I think is so important.’
But Trump declined to answer a reporter’s question about whether he would pull Kavanaugh’s nomination if his nominee was found to have lied about his drinking in high school and college. The president avoided the real issue. The problem was not whether the judge drank in high school and college, rather, did he lie about it?
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
