Trump reportedly spent important policy meetings grilling Reince Priebus about badgers

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published 12 February 2020

President Trump reportedly took badgering to a new — and very literal — level when working with Reince Priebus.

Before his brief tenure as Trump's chief of staff, Priebus grew up in Wisconsin, went to college there, and eventually became the chair of its Republican party. Trump apparently found Priebus' badger background especially interesting, and he often spent meetings questioning Priebus about Wisconsin's official animal, The Daily Beast's Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng report in their forthcoming book Sinking in the Swamp.

Trump was apparently reminded early in Priebus' tenure that "the short-legged omnivore was practically synonymous with the Badger State," and then would "make a point of bringing it up at seemingly random occasions," Markay and Suebsaeng write in an excerpt of the book published by Business Insider. Trump also reportedly asked Priebus "Are they mean to people? Or are they friendly creatures?" on at least two occasions, inquired if Priebus had any pictures of badgers, and then asked if Priebus could explain just how badgers "work."

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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