Trump opens up about his brother’s death, alcoholism, and the opioid crisis

Make sure to let us know what you think... we now have comments turned ON below the article!

In a lengthy interview with The Washington Post that was published this week, President Donald Trump opened up about his late brother’s tragic struggle with alcoholism and how it inspired his administration’s goal to combat the nation’s opioid crisis.

Fred Jr., the president’s older brother, died in 1981 after suffering a heart attack at the age of 42.

Lessons learned

The president has spoken repeatedly in the past about how watching his older brother’s health fail due to alcoholism had informed his decision to never drink alcohol or use illicit drugs, as he feared he might be predisposed to addiction and didn’t want to follow the same fateful path as Fred Jr.

“Let’s say I started drinking, it’s very possible I wouldn’t be talking to you right now,” Trump told The Post. “There is something about the genetic effect.”

But as it turns out, the lessons learned from his older brother’s addiction did more than just keep him from becoming an addict himself — it gave him empathy for other Americans who suffer from addiction.

Trump indicated that the experience serves as a driving force behind his administration’s efforts to tackle the nation’s opioid addiction epidemic.

“I guess you could say now I’m the chief of trying to solve it,” the president said. “I don’t know that I’d be working, devoting the kind of time and energy and even the money we are allocating to it … I don’t know that I’d be doing that had I not had the experience with Fred.”

Rare regrets

Trump also admitted that he had “regrets” about joining his father in pressuring his older brother to join the family business, instead of pursuing his dream of being a pilot.

“I do regret having put pressure on him,” Trump told The Post of his older brother, and said that being in the real estate business “was just something he was never going to want.”

“It was just not his thing,” the president. “I think the mistake that we made was we assumed that everybody would like it. That would be the biggest mistake … There was sort of a double pressure put on him.” That pressure may have worsened his drinking problem, Trump said.

President Trump is not the sort of person to readily admit to making mistakes, so his admission of regret here is a rarity.

That said, the silver lining may be that the lessons learned will hopefully save other American families from going through the same thing, thanks to the Trump administration’s focus on ending the opioid addiction crisis.

59 Responses

  1. Oh my goodness! Incredible article dude! Thanks, However I am having troubles with your RSS. I don’t understand the reason why I can’t subscribe to it. Is there anybody else having the same RSS issues? Anybody who knows the answer can you kindly respond? Thanks!!

  2. Howdy! This blog post couldn’t be written much better! Looking through this post reminds me of my previous roommate! He always kept talking about this. I’ll send this post to him. Fairly certain he will have a very good read. Thanks for sharing!

  3. Hi, I do believe this is a great web site. I stumbledupon it 😉 I will come back once again since i have saved as a favorite it. Money and freedom is the greatest way to change, may you be rich and continue to help other people.

  4. I’d like to thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this site. I’m hoping to view the same high-grade content by you later on as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my very own blog now 😉

  5. You have made some really good points there. I checked on the net to find out more about the issue and found most people will go along with your views on this web site.

  6. Right here is the perfect webpage for everyone who wishes to understand this topic. You understand a whole lot its almost tough to argue with you (not that I personally will need to…HaHa). You definitely put a brand new spin on a subject that has been written about for ages. Great stuff, just excellent!

  7. I really love your website.. Great colors & theme. Did you make this amazing site yourself? Please reply back as I’m looking to create my own site and would love to find out where you got this from or just what the theme is called. Many thanks!

  8. I have to thank you for the efforts you have put in penning this site. I really hope to see the same high-grade content from you later on as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my very own website now 😉

  9. Oh my goodness! an incredible article dude. Thanks Nevertheless I am experiencing difficulty with ur rss . Don’t know why Unable to subscribe to it. Is there anybody getting equivalent rss downside? Anybody who is aware of kindly respond. Thnkx

  10. An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a colleague who was conducting a little homework on this. And he actually bought me lunch simply because I found it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending the time to discuss this subject here on your blog.

Leave a Reply to Xiao Raymore Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Popular