Laugh at Trump's shoe gifts all you want — it's a loyalty test
By Chauncey Devega
Published on March 19, 2026.
Donald Trump has been gifting $145 Florsheim leather cap toe Oxford dress shoes to Cabinet members, agency heads, advisers and VIPs. The shoes are ordered by an assistant and are expected to be worn by the recipient, regardless of their size or discomfort. This is part of a larger pattern of humiliation and dominance, with White House officials praising Trump as the greatest president in American history. Stephen Hassan, author of "The Cult of Trump," suggests that the MAGA movement is a cult that defines his own morality and ethics, and that he answers to no external authority but himself. This could lead to total authoritarian control over a society.
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