Trump told his children 'no cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs' after tragic loss of brother Fred Jr to alcoholism
Former President Donald J Trump made a passing joke about not drinking at a 2018 conference when he was asked whether he had concerns that the then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had lied about his drinking habits in his testimony. "I'm not a drinker. I can honestly say I never had a beer in my life. It's one of my only good traits," he responded. "I never had a glass of alcohol. I never had alcohol, for whatever reason."
"Can you imagine if I had? What a mess I would be. I would be the world's worst. I never drank, Ok?" the 45th POTUS quipped at the time.
While Trump's lighthearted delivery drew laughter from the audience, there's a personal tragedy behind why he doesn't drink.
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In 2017, while declaring the opioid crisis in the United States a public emergency, Trump gave an emotional speech about how his older brother, Fred Trump, had suffered from alcoholism and died in 1981 aged just 43. The former President was speaking to a room filled to the brim with former addicts, parents of overdose victims, as well as treatment specialists. Trump noted how addiction had destroyed his brother's life.
"I had a brother, Fred," he said. "Great guy, best-looking guy. Best personality, much better than mine. But he had a problem, a problem with alcohol. And he would tell me, don't drink. He was substantially older and I listened to him and I respected him. He's also added, don't smoke."
"But he would say it over and over again. And to this day I've never had a drink. And, I have no longing for it. I have no interest in it," Trump continued. "To this day I've never had a cigarette. Don't worry those are only two of my good things — I don't want to tell you about the bad things. There's plenty of bad things too."
The former real estate mogul said his brother's life could serve as a cautionary tale for young people. "He (Fred) helped me. He guided me and he had a very, very, very tough life because of alcohol believes me. He was a strong guy, but it was a tough thing that he was going through," Trump continued. "But I learned because of Fred and that's what I think is so important. This was an idea I had — if we can teach young people not to take drugs, not to start, then it's really easy not to take them. I think that's going to be our most important thing."
"When I see my friend having difficulty with not having that drink at dinner — where it's literally impossible for them to stop. I say to myself, I can't even understand it — why would that be difficult. But we understand why it is difficult," he added.
Fred Trump Jr
Fred Jr was the second oldest of the former President's siblings and was born eight years before him. Federal judge Maryanne Trump Barry is the eldest of the siblings, followed by Fred, Elizabeth, Donald, and Robert Trump. According to Town & Country magazine, Fred Jr worked briefly for his family real estate business but soon left to pursue his dreams of becoming a pilot. He married and had two children, Fred III and Mary, both of whom were named after his parents.
Fred Jr's decline into alcoholism was detailed in a 2016 New York Times article, which revealed that his issues first began in his mid-20s. By 1968, his drinking habits started to considerably impact the quality of his life. The NYT reported that he "got divorced, quit flying because he knew his drinking presented a danger, and failed at commercial fishing in Florida. By the late 1970s, he was living back in his parents’ house in Jamaica Estates, working on one of his father’s maintenance crews."
The newspaper also suggested that Fred Jr's suffering, in some ways, inspired Trump's aggressive ambition and drive, especially after he had "learned by watching his brother how bad choices could drag down even those who seemed destined to rise."
'No drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes'
In 2015, Trump was taking questions at a town hall event in New Hampshire when he urged parents to steer their children away from alcohol and drugs, saying they could lead by example. “If you don’t drink and you don’t do drugs, your children … are going to have a tremendously enhanced chance of really being successful and having a good life,” he insisted. “The world is so tough and it is so competitive that you can’t put yourself, as a child, or even as a parent, if you want that child to be successful, at a disadvantage of letting them drink or letting them take drugs because it is not going to work. They are going to be at a tremendous disadvantage and ultimately they may not recover.”
Trump has maintained he has never had a drink of alcohol and that he drummed a simple message into his children's heads from an early age.
"I think they drink a little bit, but not much. But I say no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes," he told People in 2015, adding that his family has always been the most important thing in his life.
“I always prided myself on being a good father,” he said. “With my children, I was always available.”
Ivanka, his eldest daughter, agreed. “He was tough, firm, but always available to us," she told the magazine.
Having said that, Trump has had quite a few problems with his late brother's family since his demise. In 2000, shortly after their father Fred Trump Sr died, Fred Jr's son contested the will in court.
Family feud
According to Town & Country magazine, Fred Trump Sr's estate -- valued at somewhere between $100 million and $300 million -- had been divided majorly between the living siblings. This meant there was considerably less for Fred III and his family, and so he decided to move the courts.
Trump shot back by reportedly cutting off medical benefits for Fred III's family, which were critical for them at the time. The family feud was widely covered in the tabloids, like so many Trump family battles. “I was angry because they sued,” Trump later told NYT author Jason Horowitz. However, the family eventually settled the suit "amicably."
Years later, Trump noted that his brother Fred "would have been an amazing peacemaker if he didn’t have the problem, because everybody loved him."
“He’s like the opposite of me," Trump added.