Trump Guesses Aides' Shoe Sizes, Buys Them Shoes Too Big — They're "Afraid Not to Wear Them"
Trump has been buying $145 Florsheim dress shoes for aides after guessing their sizes by looking at their feet. Vance and Rubio's shoes are "clearly too big." A staffer: "Everybody's afraid not to wear them." The brand's parent company is suing.
President Trump has taken to buying mid-priced Florsheim dress shoes for male officials around him — ordering them on the spot after guessing people's shoe sizes by eyeing their feet.
The problem: he's not very good at it.
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave Trump their actual shoe sizes (13 and 11.5 respectively), but menswear expert Josh Peskowitz told reporters that the presidentially approved footwear seen on both men is "clearly too big." Photos of Rubio in visibly oversized shoes went viral.
A White House staffer told the Wall Street Journal: "It's hysterical because everybody's afraid not to wear them."
The shoes are $145 Florsheim oxfords — not the luxury brand one might expect from a billionaire president. The parent company of Florsheim has reportedly filed a lawsuit over the unauthorized association.
The episode seems trivial, but it captures something essential about the Trump White House: senior government officials — including the Vice President and Secretary of State — wearing ill-fitting shoes because they're too afraid to tell the president he guessed wrong. If they can't push back on shoe sizes, what chance do they have pushing back on policy?
As menswear writer Derek Guy warned: "If this goes wrong, it could potentially be dangerous" — not the shoes themselves, but what the dynamic says about the people advising the president on matters of actual consequence.