As presidents go, Donald Trump is, well, a bit of an odd one. He's the first U.S. president in 130 years to not have a dog. His tweets are as strange as they are prolific. And his tug-and-pull handshake make every public meeting with a foreign leader a muse-see event. And the further we get into his presidential term (we're on day 507, not that we're counting), the more we learn about the weird quirks of our current president. To see what they are, read on—and for more on odd presidential behavior, don't miss the 20 Craziest Things U.S. Presidents Have Done.
1 | He Rips Up Important Documents
Under the Presidential Records Act, the White House has to preserve presidential records for safe-keeping. But Trump can't get out of the old habit of tearing important documents into shreds when he was done reading them, then tossing the tiny pieces of paper onto the floor. This means that a whole team of people spends their entire days putting these pieces of paper back together like a jigsaw puzzle and scotch-taping it all back together.
2 | He Moves Things Around on Tables
A CNN video shows that every time Trump sits down at a meeting, he always moves something in front of him into the middle of the table, be it a glass of Diet Coke or a coaster. Kevin Volcan, a Psychology Professor at the University State Channel Islands, said that the move reveals anxiety, a need for control, and a sense of boredom when the conversation veers toward a topic other than himself. Internet users describe the habit as "desktop manspreading," or a form of domination by intimidating others by unnecessarily taking up space. For more on body language, see how to Read Your Partner's Mind with These 10 Body Language Tells.
3 | He Holds a Glass of Water With Two Hands
Talk-show hosts and Twitter went into overdrive last December, when the President used both of his hands to drink from a glass of water while unveiling his new national security strategy in a televised speech. Like many of his quirks, this gesture likened him to a toddler.
4 | He Eats Cheeseburgers in Bed
Trump's addiction to fast food is well-documented, which is why people were more than a little skeptical when his doctor, Ronny Jackson, said the president was 6'3" and weighed 239 pounds, which would conveniently make him one pound shy of obese. But what really captured everyone's imagination was when Michael Wolff, in his tell-all Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, said he liked to spend his evenings watching TV while eating a cheeseburger in bed.
5 | He Drinks Up to 12 Diet Cokes a Day
ShutterstockThe Internet went nuts when a viral New York Times report about a day in the life of Trump claimed he drinks up to 12 diet cokes per day. Everyone knows that even though they may market themselves as having "zero" calories, diet sodas cause as much weight gain and health issues as any other sugary drink.
6 | The Reason He Prefers Fast Food
Unlike most people, Trump reportedly doesn't love fast food because it's deliciously unhealthy, but because he considers their processed meals more hygienic. "I'm a very clean person," he told CNN. "I like cleanliness, and I think you're better off going there than maybe someplace that you have no idea where the food's coming from."
7 | No One Can Touch the Remote Control
ShutterstockIn The Art of the Comeback, Trump wrote that he washes his hands "as often as possible," and reports say he won't touch the ground floor button of an elevator because it's the one pressed most often, and therefore carries the most bacteria.
His germaphobia is so extreme that, according to the The New York Times, no one is allowed to touch his TV remote apart from him and White House technical support staffers. Granted, the TV remote is often one of the items in a house that people forget to clean, but this is a bit extreme.
8 | He Has Three TV Sets in His Bedroom
Apparently Trump wasn't satisfied with only having one television set in his bedroom, so he had two more added. On most days, some claim, Trump likes to be in bed by 6:30 pm with his aforementioned cheeseburger, watching all three of his televisions and calling friends.
Sources told The New York Times that he watches at least four hours of television per day, sometimes going up to eight. Trump has denied these claims, saying, "I do not watch much television. I know they like to say—people that don't know me—they like to say I watch television. People with fake sources—you know, fake reporters, fake sources. But I don't get to watch much television, primarily because of documents. I'm reading documents a lot." You be the judge.
9 | He's Obsessed with Sharks
ShutterstockOne of the most surprisingly shocking revelations of the 2011 In Touch Stormy Daniels interview that recently recirculated was that the president had an unhealthy preoccupation with sharks. According to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Cliffords, Trump invited her back to his hotel room while at a golf tournament in Nevada in 2006. When she arrived, she found the future president wearing pajama pants and watching Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.
"He is obsessed with sharks. Terrified of sharks," she said. "He was like, 'I donate to all these charities and I would never donate to any charity that helps sharks. I hope all the sharks die.' He was like riveted. He was like obsessed. It's so strange, I know."
10 | He's Obsessed With His Hair
ShutterstockTrump's infamously coiffed hair has been the subject of many memes in the past, but it seems he takes his swept-back blond strands rather seriously. He spent a good deal of time at a 2016 rally complaining that hairspray isn't what it used to be. "Hairspray's not like it used to be, it used to be real good. Today you put the hairspray on and it's good for 12 minutes," he bemoaned. He also once reportedly asked to have his cashmere sweater cut off with scissors for a Vanity Fair photoshoot to avoid disturbing his luscious mane.
11 | He Eats Pizza with a Knife and Fork
Nothing draws the ire of New Yorkers quite like improper pizza-eating habits, so the germaphobe got an earful when he was spotted eating pizza with a knife and fork while sitting next to Sarah Palin. This retro Pizza Hut commercial of him eating the cheesy bread with Ivana Trump with just his hands must have given him a fit of apoplexy.
12 | His Love/Hate Relationship With Media
Trump reportedly starts his day off by watching tons of negative media coverage of him on television, then pours over newspapers, scrawling over unflattering portrayals of him with a black Sharpie. This often provides the angry momentum for the "fake news" that he rails against in his morning tweets. But, according to the Times profile, it's even worse when the news doesn't fixate on him, one senior adviser claiming that the president "grew uncomfortable after two or three days of peace and could not handle watching the news without seeing himself on it."
13 | He Loves Bathrooms
According to The New York Times, Trump "has an odd affinity for showing off bathrooms, including one he renovated near the Oval Office." The man loves toilets and gold—which was confirmed when the Guggenheim responded to his request to "borrow" a Van Gogh from the museum by offering up a solid gold toilet called "America."
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