SECRETS OF TRUMP ON TOUR BEFORE Burgers, beds & 250 bodyguards
WHEN Donald Trump strides off his plane on to UK soil this week, wispy locks flying in the wind, he will expect his every whim to be catered for.
The world’s most powerful man needs to stay focused on the weighty matters affecting all our futures.
This is the US leader who is still locked in a high-stakes nuclear poker game with North Korea.
Other issues taxing the presidential brain will be a trade war with China and the status of women.
But one of his foremost questions on his official visit to Britain will be: “Did we bring the cookies?”
For the leader of the free world must be given Oreos only from the US, which he claims taste better.
Wherever he goes, the President has a list of preferences worthy of any diva.
Take his taste in food. Trump always insists on having his own-brand ketchup, carried by an aide.
He is also partial to sweet treats from See’s Candies, a US firm famed for its chocolate – but also the manufacturer of “Trump sucks” lollies. A personal chef makes his beloved burgers, recreating his favourite, the Big Mac.
But his favourite dish is a £50 dry-aged steak, which his former butler said he likes so well done it “clanks and rattles” on the plate.
That rules Gordon Ramsay out of a job, then. The chef previously said: “Whatever quality of beef it is, it’s gone way past any form of taste when you’ve asked for it well done.”
The President will also make sure his trip has some fizz by bringing a stash of pop. Such is his love of it he apparently has a button on a desk that he uses to summon a butler with an ice-cold Coca-cola.
A Time magazine story about life in the White House also gave an insight into his diet.
It revealed he gets extra sauce with his chicken and “two scoops of vanilla ice cream with his chocolate pie instead of the single scoop like everyone else”.
And when he has scoffed his treats, any crumbs and leftovers must be cleared away swiftly because he is a germophobe. Trump once referred to shaking hands as “barbaric” as it spreads “all sorts of things”.
That is unfortunate as he is obliged to shake an estimated 65,000 hands a year.
However, at 72 one thing Trump is keen on is a good night’s sleep. Sources say he hates being away from his own nest.
“Trump is a man who likes to be on the couch with a good cheeseburger,” said former adviser Roger Stone during the campaign trail.
“He likes being in his own bed even if it means coming into New York airports after midnight.”
Nobody knows exactly where the President will stay while he is here but the smart money is on the US Ambassador’s Residence at Winfield House, London. So they might want to invest in one of the Trump Organisation’s Plus Euro Pillowtop mattresses, which cost around £700 for a double from manufacturer Tempur-sealy.
They are so popular it emerged last month US Environmental Protection Agency boss Scott Pruitt asked an intern to source him a used mattress from DC’S Trump International Hotel. One thing Trump will not be using is his room’s trouser press. His Italian Brioni suits are said to be steampressed by an aide – while he wears them.
And pity the poor maid who dares pick his clothes or make his bed. According to Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury, the President harangued domestic staff who tried to clear his laundry, yelling: “If my shirt is on the floor it’s because I want it on the floor.”
He would also strip his own bed when the sheets needed changing, according to Wolff, who alleges that Trump also has three TVS in his room and retires to bed at 6.30pm to call friends and colleagues.
Nor will Trump be making use of in-house hairdressers as he is said to prefer crafting his curious trademark style himself.
And who can blame him after his former hairdresser Amy Lasch lifted the lid on his unusually solid barnet.
She described his blond dye job as a “calamity” and said hairspray had left it “solid and matted”. Also she revealed that Trump even has his own family cut his locks.
Ms Lasch said: “When I looked at the back of his hair I could tell it was not a hairdresser cutting it. It was very scary. It was just cut in a straight line.
“The colour was so inconsistent. It was not done correctly. They coloured the top and did not colour underneath properly. It was someone in his inner circle cutting and colouring his hair – his wife or his daughter.”
One thing the President is likely to pack is a set of golf clubs. He is widely expected to visit one of his courses, in Ayrshire or Aberdeen.
Trump’s mother was born on the Isle of Lewis and he is proud of his Scottish roots, having made several visits to his “ancestral home” before his shock election win in 2016.
The Treasury has set aside up to £5million to cover the cost of extra policing for the golfing trip.
Air Force One is expected to fly into Stansted when it arrives late on Thursday as it is smaller than Heathrow and Gatwick, making it easier for staff to handle any disruption. Trump will travel to meet Theresa May and the Queen in his armoured Cadillac, nicknamed the Beast, which will be shipped over on a military cargo plane. The bomb-proof vehicle, officially called Cadillac One, weighs eight tons thanks to its armour and eightinch thick doors – the same width as those on a Boeing 747. The doors seal out chemical and biological attacks, the tyres are bulletproof and the car has night vision cameras, tear gas cannons and guns. Up to 250 armed US secret services agents will also be flying in with the Commander-in-chief – along with an army of aides. They will be working behind the scenes to ensure he gets downtime, even while he is working. At the Nato meeting in May, other leaders were apparently persuaded to tailor speeches to the President’s attention span – two to four minutes. It was also reported that embassies in Washington advised their governments on how to “handle a leader with no real experience on the world stage, a preference for personal diplomacy and a taste for glitz”. Still, the President may be overshadowed by wife Melania, 48, on his UK visit. Her every move will be scrutinised for signs of their rumoured relationship troubles. And fashionistas will be rating every outfit she wears. But the First Lady’s biggest concern may be remembering to pack the Donald’s Oreos.