While it certainly seems like 2020 presidential contest rivals Donald Trump and Joe Biden
couldn't be further apart in most respects, there is one area in which they share common
ground: They don't drink alcohol, and haven't for most of their adult lives.
According to Marie Claire, Biden's reason for sobriety is that alcoholism apparently
ran rampant on his mother's side of the family, and also impacted his brother Frankie.
His son, Hunter, has also struggled with addiction to drugs as well as alcohol.
Trump has been even more forthcoming about the family tragedy that led to him avoiding
so-called "demon rum."
In a 2015 interview with The Daily Mail, he opened up about his adored older brother Fred
Trump, Jr., who struggled with alcoholism throughout his short life.
Fred died at age 43 of a heart attack, which the family has said was related to his drinking.
"I had a brother, Fred.
Great guy.
Best looking guy.
Best personality.
Much better than mine."
The president said of his brother,
"[Fred] was the greatest guy I knew.
[He] had a very, very, very tough life because of alcohol.
But it just broke my heart the way he died.
It was ridiculous, if you think about it.
He had so much in front of him.
So much."
Trump cited his brother's negative example for his reasoning behind abstaining from alcohol,
as well as Fred's well-meaning advice to his younger brother to keep away from the booze
that would be his own downfall.
"He would tell me, 'Don't drink.
Don't drink.'"
Trump explained,
"This is why I don't drink, ever.
I just don't do it.
Fred told me not to, and I saw what happened to him when he didn't follow his own advice."
In an op-ed for Newsweek, Susan Cheever, daughter of hard-drinking author John Cheever, wrote
of the impact a close family member's drinking can have on survivors.
She wrote,
"Untreated, teetotalers [...] are often control freaks, hyper-competent because somebody has
to get things done in an alcoholic household.
shockingly honest and occasionally suffused with rage — all scars from the family tragedies
that have led to their not drinking."
Cheever notes that Donald tends to play several different roles typical of a sober family
member of an alcoholic: he acts the responsible caretaker, finding jobs for family members
and encouraging them to maintain sobriety.
He's also what she calls the "hero," whose, quote, "success distracts from the family
problem."
He also plays the role of the scapegoat, who's willing to speak the truth as he sees it no
matter the consequences.
Other non-drinking family members in other family units explain that they don't like
the lack of control drinking results in, which could also be a factor in the president's
decision to abstain.
All that said, there is one occasion where Trump has said he'll sip on an alcoholic drink:
at church.
Speaking at a Family Leadership Summit in 2015, he said:
"When we go in church ... I drink the little wine, which is about the only wine I drink."
Trump has been caught at least holding an alcoholic drink on some other official occasions,
too.
Social media blew up over an incident where Trump was seen with a wine glass in hand at
a 2017 United Nations Function in New York.
At a luncheon hosted by the U.N. Secretary General, speeches were delivered and toasts
were made.
It was part of the event, so Trump took part.
On two occasions during the luncheon, he was seen to take what was described by The Telegraph
as "a sip" before passing the glass off to an aide.
There was some speculation that he could have had his glass filled with grape juice or his
favorite drink, Diet Coke, instead.
Even if it was wine in the glass, it seems clear that he took the smallest sip imaginable.
In a moment of humility, Trump himself said in a 2018 White House Rose Garden press conference
about the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh that his lifelong
sobriety is, quote, "one of my only good traits."
He went on to say,
"I've never had alcohol, you know, for whatever reason.
Can you imagine if I had, what a mess I'd be?
I'd be the world's worst."
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