Trump is ‘obsessed with badgers’ says new book of bizarre White House claims
PRESIDENT Donald Trump is apparently obsessed with badgers and if they are “mean to people”, it has been reported.
The bizarre revelations emerged from a new book by Daily Beast journalist Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suesbsaeng who has penned Sinking in the Swamp: How Trump’s Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington.
A two-page passage from the book explains how, in the first few months of his presidency, Mr Trump used to question his former chief of staff Reince Priebus about all sorts of stuff but often specifically badgers.
Along with detailing “the murky underworld of President Trump’s Washington, dishing the hilarious and frightening dirt on the charlatans, conspiracy theorists, ideologues, and run-of-the-mill con artists who have infected the highest echelons of American political power”, they also discuss Trump’s fascination with badgers.
Mr Markay and Mr
Suebsaeng explained that Mr Trump would interrogate his former chief of staff Reince Priebus about the black, white and grey creatures.
They claim the President’s questions would arise at such opportune moments as “when Priebus was attempting to brief the president on matters of healthcare initiatives, foreign policy, or Republican legislative agenda”.
“Are they mean to people?” Trump reportedly once asked Mr Priebus. “Or are they friendly creatures?”
Mr Trump would also demand to see photos of badgers, ask Priebus to give details on how badgers “work”, and wanted to know if the omnivores had a “personality” or were boring.
Mr Priebus was also reportedly called upon to explain “how the critters function and behave, what kind of food they like, and how aggressive or deadly they could be when presented with perceived existential threats”.
Mr Markay and Mr
Suebsaeng said Trump would frequently derail important policy discussions with questions about the animals.
“An obviously enthralled president would stare at Mr Priebus as the aide struggled for sufficiently placating answers, all the while trying to gently veer the conversation back to whether we were going to do a troop surge in Afghanistan or strip millions of Americans of healthcare coverage,” they wrote.
Business Insider, who obtained an advance copy of the book, are reporting that the
unusual line of questioning began after Trump discovered that badgers are the state animal of Wisconsin, where Mr Priebus is from.
The President was also reportedly heard to ask: “What kind of damage could a badger to do a person with its flashy, sharp claws?”
The book also claims that Trump was often “enthralled” with Priebus’s explanations even as the former advisor attempted to steer the conversation back to foreign policy.
Wisconsin is known as the “badger state” less for the animal – which is found in many US states – than for its mining history. In the early 1800s, iron ore miners in the state would live inside the caves they were digging, and became known as “badger boys” or “badgers”.
Mr Priebus served as President Trump’s Chief of Staff from January 20, 2017 to July 27 of the same year. His tenure represents the shortest of any non-interim White House Chief of Staff in American history.