U.S. President Donald Trump guesses shoe sizes of his cabinet members and gifts them $145 dress shoes from Florsheim, a company which a Jew founded in Chicago in 1892, according to Wall Street Journal reporting.
A female White House official told the Journal that “all the boys have them,” and another joked to the paper, “it’s hysterical, because everybody’s afraid not to wear them.”
The “shoe-salesman-in-chief” even gifted a pair to Tucker Carlson in January, according to the paper. Carlson’s visits to the White House have drawn criticism, given the former Fox News host’s antisemitic and anti-Israel comments, including sharing conspiracy theories on his podcast.
In more recent days, Trump has disavowed Carlson, who retorted that he loves the president no matter what, even when the subject of Trump’s criticism.
The White House told the Journal that Trump pays for the shoes.
“One cabinet secretary has grumbled that he had to shelve his Louis Vuittons, according to people who heard the complaint,” the paper reported.
“Reached by phone, Thomas Florsheim Jr. said he was unaware of the president’s shoe orders,” it added. “The Weyco Group CEO and fifth-generation Florsheim politely declined to comment further.”
Milton S. Florsheim, who was a Jewish Canadian, founded the shoe company in 1892.
