Trump apparently knows a lot about tree fungus
Meet the presidential dendrologist.
In an effort to dissect President Trump's conversational character, The Wall Street Journal interviewed more than 50 sources about what it's like to gab with the commander in chief. But beyond the more conventional analyses of Trump's chatter — he can "be blunt," the Journal reported, but he also "isn't beyond using chocolate to win someone over" — comes a gem of a revelation from Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Mulvaney, who the Journal noted is a "frequent golf companion" of Trump's, told the paper that Trump is very aware of "which trees have died" on his golf course. Not only that, but the president is also invested in landscaping decisions, Mulvaney said, often opining on "which trees to cut down." He's apparently a caring gardener, too, as Mulvaney said Trump will note from a distance "what greens are struggling with what fungus."
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Among Trump's other tics, the Journal found, is that he will often change topic — like when he noted suddenly during an infrastructure discussion that he fears he'll get "speared" by the guardrails on the side of the road, should he ever get in a car crash. Read more about Trump's conversational whims at The Wall Street Journal.
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Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.
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