Trump reportedly spent important policy meetings grilling Reince Priebus about badgers


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."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This apparently happened during several policy meetings, and all the while Priebus could be seen "trying to gently veer the conversation back to whether we were going to do a troop surge in Afghanistan or strip millions of Americans of health-care coverage," Sinking in the Swamp continues. Read the whole excerpt at Business Insider.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
How would the Trump administration denaturalize immigrant citizens?
Today's Big Question Using civil courts lowers the burden of proof
-
Who has to pay the estate tax?
the explainer Trump's new bill will permanently shift who owes federal estate tax
-
'Trucking is a dangerous business'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump sues LA over immigration policies
Speed Read He is suing over the city's sanctuary law, claiming it prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities
-
Obama, Bush and Bono eulogize USAID on final day
Speed Read The US Agency for International Development, a humanitarian organization, has been gutted by the Trump administration
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidents
The Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts more
Speed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump