‘I usually read stories about myself,’ Trump says in children’s podcast appearance

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Usha Vance for her "Storytime with the Second Lady" podcast, in the Oval Office of the White House. Photo by The White House/X

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U.S. President Donald Trump riffed on his White House predecessors in a children’s podcast Friday, while also joking about his weight and musing as to whether his body is swimsuit-ready.

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Speaking with Usha Vance on “Storytime with the Second Lady,” as America celebrated its 250th birthday, the billionaire property tycoon opened with a favourite topic — real estate.

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The pair were sitting in the White House Oval Office, explained the 80-year-old grandfather of 11.

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“It’s the most powerful piece of real estate, probably in the world. Everything starts here, ends here, starts again,” he said, with a plush bald eagle at his elbow.

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Trump then added that he doesn’t have much time to read books.

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“I end up reading mostly newspapers. I usually read stories about myself,” he said.

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Turning to “Presidents Play!”, a book detailing pastimes of former White House occupants, Trump offered a stream of commentary as he flipped through the illustrated pages.

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Abraham Lincoln rode horses: “I’d like to ride horses, too,” Trump said, but warned of the risks of falling off.

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“We get a nice old horse that’s extremely slow, lazy, and maybe ride him.”

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John Quincy Adams swam in a nearby creek.

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“I think we’re building a beautiful ballroom on top of it, based on this picture,” Trump noted, referring to his pet construction project which has been snarled by lawsuits.

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Franklin D Roosevelt swam in an indoor pool which today is the White House press room, while Gerald Ford enjoyed an outdoor pool, Trump said.

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“I don’t know if I look good in a bathing suit. I haven’t had a bathing suit in a long time. I’m too busy,” Trump said.

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John F. Kennedy was a sailor and “the second most good-looking president,” Trump said, leaving unsaid who is the first.

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Bill Clinton, a jogger, “actually was a nice guy.”

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“I like Bill Clinton a lot,” Trump said, making him a rare Democrat to earn a spot on Trump’s list of nice people, even though his wife Hillary — whom Trump defeated in the 2016 election — is a longtime political nemesis.

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Trump said another foe, Barack Obama, liked to shoot hoops but “I don’t know if he’s a good basketball player. I tend to doubt it.”

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Baseball fan William Howard Taft, who served from 1909 to 1913, was America’s heaviest president at well over 300 pounds (136 kilos).

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“I have to be careful because I don’t want to supersede his record, and a thing like that would be possible if I allowed it to happen,” said Trump, a big man himself who is known to like junk food.

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Turning to a current topic, Vance asked Trump why children should celebrate Saturday’s anniversary of the U.S. declaration of independence from Britain.

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“We have a great country. We have a country that is under a little bit of a ledge right now,” he said. “It can go one way or another, you understand that, but we’re going to go the other.”

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