Trump gives pairs of his shoes to staff to replace their ‘s****y’ footwear
‘All the boys have them,’ one female White House aide said.
US President Donald Trump is known for liking the finer things in life, having famously decorated the Oval Office with gold embellishments.
Now, it appears the US leader is turning his attention to sprucing the style of his own staff, lawmakers and other heads who visit Washington DC.
Trump has taken a liking to American shoe brand Florsheim, often ordering people’s sizes to the White House to up their style.
The Wall Street Journal reported one aide claimed the trend was ‘hysterical’ because everyone was ‘afraid not to wear them’.
A pair of leather Florsheim Oxford shoes retails around $145, which is rather affordable, considering the President has a net worth of around $5 billion.
And he’s using his own money to purchase the footwear, with his closest aides, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio donning pairs of the shoes.
Sean Duffy, Pete Hegseth, Howard Lutnick, communications director Steven Cheung, deputy chief of staff James Blair and speechwriter Ross Worthington all have pairs of the American-made shoes.
Vance and Rubio received their shoes after Trump reportedly told them, ‘You guys have sh****y shoes,’ before asking which shoe size they were.
But not everyone who was gifted the shoes is pleased with them – one source said she heard grumbling from a cabinet secretary who had to ‘shelve his Louis Vuittons’.
Trump’s gift-giving habits of shoes came into the spotlight months after his habit of gift-getting was under intense scrutiny.
Last year, it was reported that Trump had accepted a Boeing 747-8, courtesy of Qatar’s Royal Family.
Worth £303 million, the aircraft is reportedly going to replace the aged Air Force One, but also violate bribery and corruption rules within the constitution.
The Republican told reporters: ‘I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer.
‘I could be a stupid person and say, ‘”No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.”‘
Critics of the plan worry that the move threatens to turn a global symbol of American power into an airborne collection of ethical, legal, security and counterintelligence concerns.
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