President Trump has donated $100,000 from the third-quarter of his salary to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Trump himself never drinks alcohol, but his older brother, Fred Jr., died in 1981 after struggling with alcoholism.
Trump said his brother always told him, “don’t drink,” and despite their sometimes rocky relationship, he heeded those words.
Fred and Donald Trump
“I can honestly say I’ve never had a beer in my life,” Trump once told reporters. “Can you imagine, if I had, what a mess I’d be? I’d be the world’s worst.”
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism claims to be the largest funder of alcohol research in the world.
The organization both supports and conducts research on the impact of alcohol on human health and well-being.
Even though he does not drink alcohol, a decade ago he introduced Trump Vodka.
With the slogan “Success Distilled,” it was touted as the “epitome of vodka” that would “demand the same respect and inspire the same awe as the international legacy and brand of Donald Trump himself.
”
Trump predicted in 2006 it would become the “most requested drink in America, surpassed only by the Trump Martini!”
Trump said he decided to get into the vodka business to “outdo his friends” at Grey Goose.
It was not a successful venture, however, and was discontinued in 2011.
Trump pledged to refuse the $400,000 salary that comes with being president shortly after winning the election.
Since then he’s held to his promise, with each quarterly pay going to a different organization.
In 2017, his paychecks went to the National Park Service, the Education Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Transportation.
The first two checks from 2018 went to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Small Business Administration, according to The Associated Press.
Trump is not the first president to donate his check.
Herbert Hoover, a self-made millionaire, and John F. Kennedy, who came from a wealthy family, also gave away their salaries.