Trump regrets putting 'pressure' on brother Fred Jr to join the family business, says that may have led to his alcoholism and death
President Donald Trump regrets the "pressure" that was put on his late elder brother Fred Trump Jr to join the family business, and revealed that his death from alcoholism in 1981 had a lasting effect on the way he viewed susbtance abuse.
Trump, while speaking to The Washington Post, said that seeing his brother succumb to alcoholism formulated his perspective as his administration is gears up to take on addictions, whether opioids or alcohol-related.
Trump told the outlet: "I guess you could say now I’m the chief of trying to solve it. I don’t know that I’d be working, devoting the kind of time and energy and even the money we are allocating to it. . . . I don’t know that I’d be doing that had I not had the experience with Fred."
"He was so handsome, and I saw what alcohol did to him even physically . . . and that had an impact on me, too," President Trump said who is known for his aversion to alcohol.
The Republican also regretted the way he treated his older brother when it came to the family business. Reports state that when Trump was keen to stand beside their father Fred Trump as a real estate tycoon, his brother Fred Jr. was different and wished of being an airline pilot.
The president said that the pressure his brother faced could have led to his drinking problem.
"I do regret having put pressure on him,” Trump said, adding that taking over his father's business "was just something he was never going to want."
"I think the mistake that we made was we assumed that everybody would like it. That would be the biggest mistake. . . . There was sort of a double pressure put on him," the president said after reflecting.
Trump had made a similar observation during an interview with CBS in 1990 when he said: "Perhaps it was my fault and perhaps my father’s fault for egging him on to business because he wasn’t good at it, because he didn’t like the business."
Fred Jr. Trump became a pilot for the Trans World Airlines, however, his life-long dream soon came to an end after he was removed from the position. The vice president of the TWA Retired Pilots Association, Bob Kavula, told the Post that he was "terminated because he had a drinking problem."
He died of a heart attack at the age of 42, and had spent a significant time in the hospital after having part of his stomach removed because of alcoholism.