Former President Donald Trump spoke about his late brother, who struggled with alcoholism, during a candid conversation with comedian and podcast host Theo Fong published earlier this week.
Fung, 44, and Trump, 78, touched on a variety of topics during an episode of Fung’s podcast, “This Past Weekend,” including illegal immigration, the recent Trump-Biden debate and Fung’s son, Barron, who is reportedly a fan of Fung’s.
of segment But some of their conversation, which has gone viral on social media, has involved a discussion of substance abuse, with Trump sharing a story about his older brother, Fred Trump, an alcoholic who died in 1981 at age 42.
“The reason it’s good to talk about it is because it might help other people. If it helps someone else, then it’s worth having the conversation.”
The former president claimed that Fred “knew he had an alcoholism” but was unable to break the cycle, and that Fred’s own struggles had led him to constantly advise his brother Donald to avoid addictive substances.
“Don’t drink, don’t drink,” Donald Trump recalled Fred saying, “and he said, ‘Don’t smoke.’ He smoked cigarettes and he drank alcohol.”
Donald Trump appeared to follow his brother’s advice, telling Bon he’d “never had a drink,” and acknowledging that, like Fred, he likely had a “personality” that made him prone to addiction.
“I think maybe I’m the type of person who gets into trouble when I drink,” he explained.
“If I had that problem, I wouldn’t have been successful.”
During the exchange, Trump also alluded to his ongoing grief over Fred’s untimely death, his voice trailing off as he described Fred as a “great man,” a “great brother” and “very handsome.”
“I admired him for a lot of things,” Trump told Fung. “He had accomplished so much. He looked great. He was an incredible person.”
Asked about touching memories of Fred, Trump said Fred was a “very talented” pilot who “loved” to fly and would often help other experienced pilots improve their skills.
“But eventually he had to give it up. [up] “It was because of alcohol,” Trump said. “He had to give it up, which was hard for him.”
When Vuong expressed concern that he was touching on painful issues, Trump insisted that he wanted to share these stories about Fred in the hopes that they might help others facing similar issues.
“The reason it’s good to talk about this is because it might help other people. If it helps somebody else, then it’s worth talking about,” Trump said.
Trump also claimed that a friend from business school had died of a similar alcoholism, who insisted on drinking Scotch, which he didn’t like, “to succeed in business.”
“He hated the taste of Scotch and literally couldn’t live without it,” Trump recalled, without naming his friend.
Fong acknowledged that he had been trying to recover from alcohol and drug addiction on and off for the past decade, and claimed to have been sober for the past two years.
When Trump asked whether it was harder to break an addiction to drugs or alcohol, Vuong argued that drugs were harder to break, but said drinking alcohol was a gateway to using other drugs.
“When I drink alcohol, it becomes harder to control myself. [using drugs]” ” Phong explained, adding that addiction runs in his family.
Later in the episode, the conversation returned to drug use, with Von going into more detail about the feeling of high caused by cocaine.
“Cocaine turns you into a fucking owl,” Von told the 45th President of the United States. “You know what I’m saying? You walk out on your own porch and become your own street light.”
Fong argued that the feeling is “awful” but that addicts continue to pursue it anyway – “just like the guy with the Scotch,” he explained.
The entire hour-long interview between Trump and Fung, which appears to have been arranged in part by UFC president Dana White, can be viewed here. here.
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