The shoes, which were worn by the King of Pop on stage, are reported to be obsessing the US President, who is said to have even gifted signed pairs to several staff
US President Donald Trump has reportedly been growing more and more obsessed with a specific make of shoe, once worn by pop legend Michael Jackson.
The commander in chief has developed an inexplicable “fetish” for the footwear, according to reports made in the US media, so much so that he expects all White House staff to wear them.
A Washington insider told the Wall Street Journal that Trump tells the men that work for him that he expects them to all own at least one pair belonging to Chicago-based brand Florsheim , with their $145 oxfords apparently his pick of the bunch.
So militant is the US Commander-in-Chief with this bizarre preference that “All the boys have them,” according to a female official who works at the White House.
Another employee joked that “It’s hysterical because everybody’s afraid not to wear them”, adding that one staff-member was clearly cross at having to replace his beloved Louis Vuitton shoes with a pair of Florsheims in order to please the President.
Allegedly, Trump is so obsessed with having the shoes available that he has stacks of them piled inside the White House, and yet still repeats demands for his aides to order more.
The President has also been known to sign personalised messages into their soles, according to reports.
It’s not just lowly officials at the White House that can be seen sporting the brand. Many of Trump’s most senior political team, including Vice-President JD Vance, have been spotted wearing the shoes.
When journalists visited the White House to interview Trump back in December, both Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio proudly flashed the shoes, boasting that they had been bought by the President himself.
“Vance lifted his leg in the air to show the president the pair he was wearing,” The NYT’s White House Correspondent Katie Rogers wrote at the time.
As well as Vance and Rubio, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, as well as Fox News presenter Sean Hannity have all been seen wearing the shoes.
Founded in 1882, Florsheim are one of America’s oldest shoe brands, and were famously sported by Michael Jackson on stage on a number of occasions.
A pair signed by the Thriller star sold for $14,000 when they went up for auction in 2018.
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