"Trump has been gifting footwear to agency heads, lawmakers, White House advisers and VIPs. "Did you get the shoes?" he asks at cabinet meetings. Some people have laced up in the Oval Office. During a lunch meeting in January, Trump suddenly pivoted to his "incredible" new shoes and gave Tucker Carlson a pair of brown wingtips."
"The president has taken to guessing people's shoe size in front of them. He asks an aide to put in an order and, a week later, a brown Florsheim box arrives at the White House. Trump sometimes signs the box or attaches a note of gratitude, according to people familiar with the ritual."
"Recipients have taken to wearing their Florsheims around Trump, some apparently begrudgingly. One cabinet secretary has grumbled that he had to shelve his Louis Vuittons, according to people who heard the complaint."
Trump has developed a habit of gifting Florsheim shoes to cabinet members, agency heads, lawmakers, and White House advisers. He frequently asks recipients if they received the shoes and guesses their shoe sizes in front of them. An aide places orders, and brown Florsheim boxes arrive at the White House, sometimes signed by Trump with notes of gratitude. The affordable American brand shoes, priced around $145, have become a status symbol within the administration. Recipients feel social pressure to wear the shoes around Trump, with some reportedly reluctant to abandon their designer footwear. The practice has become widespread enough that officials joke about the implicit expectation to wear them.
Read at Esquire
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