The 11 Strangest Habits of the Former President Donald Trump
11 Weird Quirks of Donald Trump
Donald Trump, like many successful people, has a number of intriguing peculiarities that shape his personality. The 77-year-old property magnate is said to get by on just four hours of sleep every night, subsisting instead on Diet Coke and infamously unhealthy, all-American fast food. Apart from his strange tweets throughout his presidency, he was also famous for his odd habits, like holding a glass with both hands while drinking water. Some of Donald Trump's life's most incredibly odd habits are listed here.
1. Trump liked to be in charge of TV controls at the White House
The New York Times reported that President Trump was very protective of the White House's television remote controls. Only he and White House technical support specialists were permitted to touch his TV remote because of his acute fear of germs. Even when the volume was turned down, Trump was seen monitoring the news on the 60-inch screen positioned over the dining table. What he didn't catch live, he watched on his 'Super TiVo,' a cutting-edge cable news recording device. While watching TV, he also spoke about his opinions with anybody in the room, including the housekeeping staff he summoned via a button (for lunch or for one of the dozen Diet Coke he consumed each day).
2. Donald Trump wasn't satisfied with just one television
Trump apparently told his senior advisors to conceive of each day as an episode in a television show in which he 'vanquished' competitors, as per the same NYT report. In fact, Trump was said to have spent at least four hours a day—and sometimes twice that—in front of a television, often with the noise lowered, soaking in the no-holds-barred warfare of cable news, ready to shoot back. President Trump reportedly watched television in the Oval Office's master bedroom at about 5:30 a.m. He started with MSNBC's Morning Joe each morning before flipping to CNN and Fox & Friends eventually. However, the business mogul did deny these claims, stating in 2017, "I do not watch much television. I know they like to say — people that don’t know me — they like to say I watch television... But I don’t get to watch much television, primarily because of documents. I’m reading documents a lot."
3. Trump had a habit of tearing important documents
The legislative panel looking into the assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, allegedly obtained materials from the Trump administration from the National Archives that had been torn up by the ex-president and pieced back together using tape. According to The Washington Post, investigators received over 700 pages on January 6 that had been altered in some way. The National Archives confirmed in a statement, "Some of the Trump presidential records received by the National Archives and Records Administration included paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump."
4. Trump liked to rearrange things on the table
A CNN video showed that whenever Trump sat down for a meeting, he immediately placed whatever was in front of him in the exact center of the table, whether it was a Diet Coke or a coaster. Everything on his desk or conference table, from coasters and papers to his own nameplate, was always in disarray. Some have speculated that this shows obsessive-compulsive habits, although photographs of his desk at Trump Tower disprove this. He rearranges not only his own belongings but also the glasses and coasters of others around him to make more room.
5. Trump liked consuming cheeseburgers in his bed
In his book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, Michael Wolff provides an inside glimpse at the chaotic early days of the Trump administration. According to reports, when Trump wanted to be alone, he retreated to his bedroom and scolded the domestic staff for picking up his clothes off the floor. As reported by The Mirror, Wolff mentioned, "If he was not having his 6:30pm dinner with Steve Bannon, then, more to his liking, he was in bed by that time with a cheeseburger, watching his three screens and making phone calls—the phone was his true contact point with the world—to a small group of friends, who charted his rising and falling levels of agitation through the evening and then compared notes with one another."
6. Trump uses both his hands to hold a glass of water
During a heated, recorded conversation that Trump claimed was unfair to him, he was seen on camera drinking from a tumbler using both hands. Then again, while speaking with CBS reporter Leslie Stahl about healthcare, the former President was seen bringing the glass to his lips with both hands. Trump has made news before for his peculiar drinking habits, reported Fox 6, which had put the businessman on the 'deffensive.' Once, Trump even tweeted to give an explanation: "The ramp that I descended after my West Point Commencement speech was very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery."
7. Trump is 'afraid' of sharks
Once, Donald Trump confirmed to his followers that he was 'not a big fan' of the ocean's top predators. He said in an event in Pennsylvania, "I don’t know, how many votes am I going to lose? I have people calling me up: ‘Sir, we wanted to — we have a fund to save the shark. It’s called save the shark.’ I say, 'No, thank you. I have other things I can contribute to," reported The Washington Post. Apart from this, Clifford, whose professional name is Stormy Daniels, claimed to have had an affair with Trump in 2006. As reported by InTouch, she told the outlet, "He is obsessed with sharks, terrified of sharks. He was like, ‘I donate to all these charities and I would never donate to any charity that helps sharks. I hope all the sharks die.’ He was like riveted. He was like obsessed. It’s so strange, I know."
8. Trump uses a knife to eat pizza
A lot of people called out Trump for eating pizza with cutlery. As reported by HuffPost, Trump shared a video from his desk at the time and said, "A lot of people are asking why am I using plastic forks and knives that the pizza parlor gave. Well, I don't walk around with forks and knives, and frankly, it was very comfortable. Plus, this way, you can take the top of the pizza off, so you're not just eating the crust. I like to not eat the crust so we can keep the weight down at least as good as possible."
9. Trump apparently gives too much thought to his hair
Despite being the target of several jokes, Trump seems to take great pride in his swept-back golden strands of hair. At a rally in 2016, he spent a considerable amount of time lamenting that hairspray just isn't the same as it used to be. He said, "Hairspray's not like it used to be, it used to be real good. Today you put the hairspray on and it's good for 12 minutes." It is said that during a picture session for Vanity Fair, he requested that his cashmere jumper be sniped off at the shoulders so as not to disrupt his luxurious hair.
10. Trump reportedly loves bathrooms
Donald Trump's fascination with toilets was one of several weird obsessions he imposed on the public during his four years in government. Others included his loathing of windmills, the heights of politicians, and hydroxychloroquine. It was reported that he had a penchant for both toilets and gold when the Guggenheim Museum reacted to his request to 'borrow' a Van Gogh by gifting him a solid gold toilet named 'America.' In fact, as reported by Axios, White House personnel often found wads of printed paper clogging a toilet during Trump's presidency, leading some to suspect that the ex-president himself was responsible.
11. Trump loves to be on the headlines
Trump, probably the most discussed person on earth, continues to enjoy seeing his name in the headline. One former senior aide, as reported by the New York Times, said Trump got uneasy after two or three days of quiet and could not bear watching the television without seeing himself on it. As per reports, Trump started his day by watching hours of critical TV coverage of himself and then spending hours poring over newspapers, scribbling over unfavorable articles about him with a black Sharpie. The anger behind the 'fake news' he condemns in his morning tweets frequently comes from this source.
