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‘Grab Whatever You Want’: Trump Reportedly Told White House Guests to Take Swag That Could Sell for ‘Thousands of Dollars’
By Michael Luciano - 7/7/2026, 5:49 AM - 405 words
Faulty reasoning signals
- Confirmation Bias - 18.3% (74 hits)
- Anchoring Bias - 0%
- Availability Heuristic - 12.8% (52 hits)
- Representativeness Heuristic - 0%
- Hindsight Bias - 0%
- Overconfidence Bias - 9.1% (37 hits)
- Framing Effect - 17.3% (70 hits)
- Loss Aversion - 0%
- Status Quo Bias - 9.1% (37 hits)
- Sunk Cost Effect - 0%
- Optimism Bias - 0%
- Pessimism Bias - 5.9% (24 hits)
Article text
‘Grab Whatever You Want’: Trump Reportedly Told White House Guests to Take Swag That Could Sell for ‘Thousands of Dollars’
President Donald Trump reportedly invited a German delegation to take various items from a room in the White House, saying they could be sold for “thousands of dollars.”
In a piece published by The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, the paper described a previously unreported meeting of European heads of government back in January, after Trump reiterated his desire to acquire Greenland, the autonomous North Atlantic and Arctic Circle territory from Denmark.
Trump insisted that the U.S. must have Greenland for national security purposes, even though the U.S. maintains a military base on the island and – under an agreement with Greenland – can increase the troop presence there.
However, Trump has indicated he wants Greenland to become a U.S. territory.
European leaders were so concerned about the president’s designs on Greenland that they convened a meeting in January, where French President Emmanuel Macron declared, “We are drawing a line here.”
As Macron spoke, he had deployed French troops to Greenland to engage in joint military exercises with Denmark, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
In March, less than two months after the meeting of European leaders, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited Trump at the White House.
According to an official cited by the Journal, Merz was surprised to see Trump acting “normal,” but the trip soon took a turn for the weird.
Trump led Merz and the German contingent to a room adjacent to the Oval Office, which Trump called “the Lewinsky room,” where former President Bill Clinton did not have sexual relations with that woman.
The room contained “MAGA memorabilia and Florsheim shoes.
Trump invited his guests to help themselves:
When Merz visited, he was surprised to find Trump “normal,” an official later said.
Trump listened, asked questions, seemed open to new information and knowledgeable about some topics—though surprisingly unaware of others, including the military situation in Ukraine.
During their chat, Trump told Merz he had something to show him, and walked the chancellor of Germany into a small study off the Oval Office.
It was, Trump announced, “the Lewinsky room” and he had filled it with MAGA memorabilia, including red hats and boxes of Florsheim dress shoes.
“Just grab whatever you want,” a congenial Trump told his German guests, adding that their wives could sell the swag for “thousands of dollars.”
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