"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."
"Weyco Group, which owns footwear brands including Bogs and Nunn Bush, sued the federal government in December over tariffs, according to a complaint filed in the US Court of International Trade. The shoe maker filed the lawsuit, betting that the US Supreme Court could strike down the tariffs that Trump has enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act."
""All the boys have them," said a female White House official. Another joked, "It's hysterical because everybody's afraid not to wear them." The shoe-salesman-in-chief is paying attention."
Trump has been gifting Florsheim leather oxfords, American-made shoes retailing around $145, to cabinet members, lawmakers, and White House officials including J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, and Sean Hannity. He actively monitors whether recipients wear the shoes, asking about them at cabinet meetings and presenting them during official gatherings. Presidential gift-giving has been customary since the late 1880s, and Trump personally funds these purchases. However, Florsheim's parent company Weyco Group filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in December challenging tariffs enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, creating an ironic disconnect between the president's personal promotion of the brand and his administration's tariff policies affecting the company.
Read at Intelligencer
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