In the new book, Sinking in the Swamp: How Trump's Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington, by Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng, it's revealed that Trump appeared to have an interest in badgers:
After Trump was reminded that the short-legged omnivore was practically synonymous with the Badger State, he'd make a point of bringing it up at seemingly random occasions to his beleaguered chief of staff [Reince Priebus, a Wisconsin native].
"Are they mean to people?" Trump at least twice asked Priebus in the opening months of his presidency. "Or are they friendly creatures?" The president would also ask if Priebus had any photos of badgers he could show him, and if Priebus could carefully explain to him how badgers "work" exactly.
He wanted Reince —–resident White House badger historian, apparently — to explain to him Wisconsin's obsession with the animal, how the little critters function and behave, what kind of food they like, and how aggressive or deadly they could be when presented with perceived existential threats.
Trump also wanted to know if the badger had a "personality" or if it was boring. What kind of damage could a badger to do a person with its flashy, sharp claws?
An obviously enthralled president would stare at 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.
Photo by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash
