Donald Trump’s dead brother was an alcoholic, and he had always hated “The Donald.” Trump likes to pretend that the two were as thick as thieves, but it turns out that Donald and Freddy Jr.’s relationship was doomed from the get-go.
Trump is very public about his abstinence from alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes, which was largely shaped by the death of his brother, Fred Jr., from alcoholism in 1981 at just 43-years-old.
Donald Trump gave an exclusive interview to People magazine in the fall of 2015. In the feature, he had nothing but pride for his big brother . He also commended him for his strength to quit drinking and did not forget to mention that he was good-looking, of course.
“He was a great guy, a handsome person. He was the life of the party. He was a fantastic guy, but he got stuck on alcohol.”
Trump told People that Freddy had actually told him not to ever start drinking.
“He had a profound impact on my life, because you never know where you’re going to end up.
“I’ve known so many people that were so strong and so powerful [yet] they were unable to stop drinking.”
Donald manages to somehow slip in the fact that ultimately Freddy was an alcoholic and died without going into any further detail.
Turns out, Donald may have been overstating just how good his relationship actually was with his older brother, Freddy.
Freddy Trump Jr. did not grow up as Donald had. Freddy was an outsider and different than the rest. The Trump children were bread for success and groomed to be high achievers. Their father, real estate mogul Frederick Trump Sr., expected the absolute best from his offspring.
All of the Trump children seemed to live up to their father’s expectations — except for Freddy Jr. Maryanne Trump-Barry is an accomplished federal judge, Robert Trump is a high-ranking Trump executive, and Elizabeth Trump is a banking executive.
Freddy was ultimately deemed the black swan of the family. He didn’t have the same drive that his siblings did. He did not feel motivated about joining the corporate world and to do what was expected of him.
Freddy struggled to live in the shadows and was tired of always trying to please his perfectionist father. Being named after Fred Sr. certainly did not make matters any better. Freddy Jr. felt he had the highest expectations of all the Trump children to uphold.
The New York Times confirmed from sources close to Donald that the two brothers did not have a good relationship . Annamaria Schifano, then the girlfriend of Freddy’s best friend, told the interviewer that she definitely recalled Donald’s tendency to pick fights and storm out.
“Donald put Freddy down quite a bit. There was a lot of combustion.”
Strange, Trump didn’t seem to mention any of that combustion or his brother at all really in the recent months.
Trump does not want Freddy’s story to blow up and become something for voters to focus on. Instead, he told the truth, quickly and quietly, and acted as if it were no big thing so that it would swiftly pass over in the news. This nevertheless inadvertently reveals some of Trump’s true colors as a person.
A man who promotes personal achievement nationally is not going to spend much time discussing his self-destructive brother who was a drunk and died at the age of 43. That was so long ago, he is over it. “The Donald” has bigger things to worry about and bigger scandals to hastily dismiss, please people.
But like any addiction story, there is always a background story or a traumatic event that ignites the addiction within a person. Trump failed to mention that he and his brother had anything but a fun-loving brotherly relationship.
In the Trump family, it seemed favoritism was a regular occurrence as Donald was the second son and most favorite son, according to sources close to the family.
Donald went to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and was killing it in the New York real estate industry. Freddy Sr. was probably wishing he could switch the brother’s names right about now. Donald was Freddy Sr.’s perfect image of the son he had always imagined.
Freddy lacked the Trump mentality of being a shark in the real estate world and going after anything you want and taking it from anyone. Donald Trump, then in college, did not approve of Freddy’s choices, pestering his older brother about drinking his life away and telling him to come back to real estate.
Freddy developed his passion for aviation at Lehigh Valley’s flying club, where he flew under electrical lines and raced storms home. However, after graduation, his father began building “Trump Village.” Freddy was desperate to fulfill his family duty and worked for his father. However, apparently, the father-son business venture was short lived as Freddy allegedly had a miserable experience working with Freddy Sr.
In fact, Freddy’s relationship with his father was so strained that Freddy Sr. basically cut Freddy Jr.’s children out of his family will.
Freddy Trump Jr. always stood out from the rest of the Trump children. Less quick-witted than his older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, now a federal judge, he was also more welcoming of outsiders than his father. Freddy was an outside-of-the-box thinker, and that did not work for Freddy Sr.
Donald Trump welcomed criticism from his father and only used it as motivation to work harder and prove to be the best of the best. Their father’s criticism had the opposite effect on Freddy Jr., who took it too harshly, which led him to drink. Freddy felt segregated from his family and worthless, all because his father would not accept him for being different from the rest of the family.
Freddy Sr. had a “picture perfect” image of what he expected and wanted from his family. Donald Trump certainly followed in his father’s footsteps and is seemingly amazing, successful, and, don’t forget, good-looking.
Strangely enough, The Donald fails to mention Freddy’s side of the story whenever he is asked about his family. Maybe if the other Trump children did not feel so much pressure from Freddy Trump Sr.’s expectations, they would be fulfilling some other occupations right now, too.
[Featured Image by Alex Wong/Getty Images]