Donald Trump often claims that he does not now nor has he ever imbibed alcohol, explaining that he wanted to avoid the fate of his alcoholic older brother Freddy, an airline pilot who died at 43 in 1981. It has always seemed unlikely that Trump, who has regaled other writers with raunchy tales of partying in the 1970s at Studio 54, never tried an intoxicant. But sobriety has been part of the persona he peddles. Let everyone else get sloppy, the subtext goes. He wants consumers of the Trump brand and would-be lenders to believe he always keeps it together.
The special counsel Robert Mueller ignited a firestorm of controversy on Wednesday by recommending that millions of Americans read. Mueller, seemingly oblivious to the uproar he was about to create, repeatedly commented that there was valuable information available to the American people only by reading a long book. At the White House, sources said that Donald J. Trump was furious about Mueller’s statement because he interpreted the special counsel’s pro-reading message as a thinly veiled attack on him.
Asking for their solidarity in his trade war with China, Donald Trump is urging Americans to boycott Chinese goods and “just buy things at Walmart.” Trump made his request via Twitter, where he told his fellow-citizens that it was their “patriotic duty” to punish China by buying as many goods at Walmart as possible. “If you go to a GREAT AMERICAN STORE like Walmart, you’ll find lots of cheap sportswear, shoes, and other items for you and your family to enjoy,” he tweeted. “What better way to show China that we don’t need their DUMB STUFF!”
When advertisers rebelled at outrage anchors like Jeanine Pirro and Tucker Carlson, Trump called Lachlan’s daddy, Rupert Murdoch, to keep them on the air. Inside the battle for the future of the network.