Visiting the White House is normally a formal if not regal event, steeped in the rich history of America’s founding fathers and the leaders of the free world who followed in their footsteps. Unless, of course, Donald Trump is president. In which case, he’s going to let you know exactly where he does or doesn’t go to the bathroom with a side order of possible racism.
According to a excerpt from Maggie Haberman’s new book, Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, Trump reportedly told White House guests that he has a “secret bathroom” that he had “completely redone” after it was used by the Oval Office’s previous occupant, Barack Obama. Like almost everything Trump says, this wasn’t entirely true, but the implication was clear as day.
Via Rolling Stone:
Trump was lying, staff said at the time, saying that only the toilet seats had been changed, as per the custom in presidential transitions. During one of the times he claimed to have renovated Trump made a remark emphasizing his desire for the changes: ”You understand what I’m talking about.”
The guest, Haberman writes, “interpreted [the remark] to mean Trump did not want to use the same bathroom as his Black predecessor.”
As Haberman writes, this wasn’t Trump’s only racially-tinged snafu while hosting guests at the White House. Shortly after taking office, he reportedly assumed “racially diverse” staffers for Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi were waiters. The former president reportedly instructed them to start bringing out the food before former chief of staff Reince Preibus jumped in to correct him.
(Via Rolling Stone)