What Donald Trump Has Said About His Brother Fred Jr.'s Tragic Death

Fred Jr. was the black sheep of the Trump family because he didn’t want to get into the real estate business. Speaking about his lack of passion for the business, Donald Trump told The New York Times, “[Fred] was caught sort of in the middle as somebody who didn’t really love it, and only because he didn’t love it, he wasn’t particularly good at it.”

Fred Jr. may not have been enthusiastic about the idea of taking over the family business, but Donald was — and he was good at it too. Because the former U.S. president was better at the real estate business than his older brother, Donald believes it put even more of a burden on Fred Jr. He said, “My father had great confidence in me, which maybe even put pressure on Fred.” But it wasn’t just Frederick Trump Sr. that put pressure on Fred Jr. Donald did too.

Before becoming president, Donald was known as an intense businessman, so it’s not surprising that he had that mindset that from a young age, especially when it came to his older brother. The political figure told The Washington Post, “I do regret having put pressure on him.” He continued, saying, “[The business] was just not his thing … I think the mistake that we made was we assumed that everybody would like it.”