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People are questioning Donald Trump's claim that he has 'never drunk a drop' of alcohol
Donald Trump has often said he’s never had a drink in his life; not even a sip. It’s a point of pride for the former president, who’s attributed his lifelong abstinence to the tragic story of his older brother, Fred Trump Jr., who died in 1981 after years of struggling with alcohol.
Appearing on comedian Theo Von’s podcast This Past Weekend last year, Trump repeated the claim. “I never have,” Trump said when asked if he drank or smoked. “I had a great brother who taught me a lesson.”
Fred, he explained, was “a great guy” and “a very handsome guy” who battled alcohol addiction. “He smoked and drank… but I tell people, ‘No drugs, no drinking, no cigarettes.’ I tell that to my kids all the time,” Trump added.
The story has become part of Trump’s mythology; the disciplined mogul who swapped champagne for Diet Coke, even installing a “Diet Coke button” in the Oval Office during his first presidency, and again after returning to the White House for a second term.
But not everyone’s buying it.
Former bartenders say they served Trump alcohol
According to multiple sources quoted in the 2019 book The Method to the Madness, not everyone remembers Trump as a teetotaler.
As reported by Vice, a former bartender known only as Laraby claimed he personally served Trump alcohol while working at a high-end New York bar in the 1990s.
“I served him,” Laraby said. “And he drank at the bar. He would order light beer. It was usually Miller Lite or Bud Light.”
The bartender added that Trump wasn’t a heavy drinker. “He’d nurse his beer,” he said. “Even if they were there for hours, he would have three beers at the most.”
Another nightlife insider, Michael Ault, owner of the famed Spy Bar and Chaos clubs in Manhattan, offered a slightly different account, claiming Trump was more of a champagne or vodka drinker.
“He was drinking champagne or vodka,” Ault said. “A liquor, not really a beer so much.”
One insider defends Trump’s sobriety
Not everyone agrees with the nightlife gossip. Paolo Zampolli, founder of ID Models and the man credited with introducing Trump to Melania, insists he never saw Trump drink.
Speaking about their first meeting at New York’s Kit Kat Club, Zampolli recalled: “I introduced them, ‘Melania, please meet Donald.’ You could see champagne and vodka on the table, but for sure Mr. Trump had only Diet Coke.”
Myth or memory?
The conflicting accounts paint a murky picture: either Trump truly has never “drunk a drop,” or some hazy memories from 1990s Manhattan have turned into urban legend.
Still, Trump’s story of sobriety remains a key part of his public persona; a disciplined, controlled image reinforced every time he raises a glass of Diet Coke instead of champagne.
And whether or not he ever ordered that Miller Lite, it’s clear the myth of Trump’s abstinence is as strong (and as carefully maintained) as ever.