Trump Opens Up About His Brother’s Alcohol Struggles In Heartfelt Interview

Former President Donald Trump is widely known for not imbibing in even a small glass of red wine, but that wasn’t the case with his brother who struggled for years with alcoholism before an untimely death, he said in a recent interview.

In a bid to reach other, more online audiences, Trump sat with Theo Von, a podcaster who commands over one million followers on X. Sporting a mullet and cowboy boots, Von turned the one-hour interview toward the subject of alcohol and tobacco, asking Trump why he never took up either habit after decades in the stressful worlds of New York real estate, celebrity mingling, and national politics. It was watching his brother’s personal addictions and untimely death, he said, that inspired him to remain sober all these years.

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“I had a wonderful brother who taught me a lesson: don’t drink, don’t drink,” said the former president. “And he smoked, he said don’t smoke, and he drank. He was a great guy. He was handsome, very handsome guy, quite a bit older, and he had a problem with alcohol, smoked a lot.” Speaking for himself, Trump said he gets by on “no drugs, no drinking, no cigarettes. I tell that to my kids all the time.” Fred Trump Jr., who died of a heart attack at age 42, was in many ways a mentor to his young brother. “He was old enough that you’d look up to somebody.” Asked if he admired his brother, Trump admitted, “Yeah, I admired him a lot. So much about him. He had so much going, the look, unbelievable personality.”

Both men grew up the sons of Fred Trump, a high-flying Manhattan real estate mogul in his own right, and mother Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, a Scottish immigrant who naturalized in 1942. They married in 1936, and Fred Trump, Jr. was born two years later. Trump was born eight years later in 1946. For a time, both young men followed in their father’s footsteps as he expanded his real estate empire into a family affair. However, it was Fred Jr.’s decision to pursue a career as an airline pilot that led to a permanent fissure with their father. By the early 1970s, he was relieved of duty due to his heavy alcoholism, a factor which contributed to his death in 1981.

“He had a problem with alcohol,” Trump continued. “He got addicted to it because – and you know they say alcohol is tougher than drugs to get off of.” Von empathized, saying he’s been in recovery for the better part of the past decade. Asked by Trump whether alcohol or drugs were harder to quit, the host said the ubiquity of alcoholic beverages at the dinner table and in social settings make it an especially difficult habit to put down for good. “If everybody goes to a dinner and [is] eating, like Xanaxes or something, for appetizers,” he joked.

Turning back to his brother, Trump said the signs of addiction were obvious to him even as a teetotaler. “I was amazed because he had so much going, had everything going. I think it probably happened in college, at a fraternity maybe, or somewhere along the line it happened. This is a very common story unfortunately, and then the family would see it and start to notice it. It didn’t get better,” he lamented.

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