Donald Trump has confirmed he's been personally gifting leather Oxford shoes to Cabinet members, White House advisers, lawmakers, and distinguished guests — because he simply can't stand seeing his team show up in sneakers. The detail that got buried in most coverage: the brand he swears by stopped manufacturing in the United States years ago.
According to Global Times, citing a Wall Street Journal report, Trump has become "obsessed" with men's shoe brand Florsheim — specifically its leather Oxford style, priced at around US$145 a pair. His method is hands-on: guess the shoe size of a senior official on the spot, then instruct aides to order and ship a box of formal leather shoes directly to them.
When Fox News host Brian Kilmeade pressed Trump on-air on March 13 about whether he actually required Cabinet members to wear Florsheim shoes, Trump pushed back — though not forcefully. "No," he said, "But it’s a nice shoe."
Trump's rationale was straightforward: when male team members complained their shoes were uncomfortable, he bought them a pair. "Seems to work out pretty well," he said. "Now they look all spiffy and nice."
"Sneakers Are Great, But..."
"I've never liked Cabinet members wearing sneakers," Trump stated plainly. "Sneakers are great, but I don't want my Cabinet members wearing them."
The Wall Street Journal identified some of the recipients: Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
AP Photo
Senegalese news site Seneweb reported that social media users had been circulating photos of U.S. political figures wearing the shoes. One image appeared to show Rubio's pair was "too large" — a detail CNN also flagged. Checking against Florsheim's official website, the closest match to the shoes visible in the photo is a leather Oxford manufactured in China. Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao reached the same conclusion independently: the style most resembling Rubio's shoes was a China-made model.
The Irony Writes Itself
The reality is this: as CNN noted, Florsheim no longer manufactures in the United States at all — production has been outsourced to China, Cambodia, India, and Mexico. The president who built his political brand on tariffs and economic nationalism is personally hand-selecting shoes for his Cabinet that carry a "Made in China" label.
Deep Throat
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The alarm is sounding inside the industry itself. Rapid AI development has raised safety worries. And after an Anthropic researcher warned that AI could cause human extinction within the next 10 years, the bosses of America’s AI giants did something rare: they called for brakes.
Golf-Course Brush-Off
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei publicly urged a slower pace of AI development. Otherwise, he warned, AI could be capable of controlling the entire network in as little as six months.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman and xAI’s Elon Musk voiced agreement. Altman went further, saying that given safety concerns, OpenAI will not go public this year.
Trump: Whoever wins AI, wins.
Donald Trump is having none of it. The US president talked the danger down, and responding on Sunday (13th) US time, he branded these anti-AI voices “a very negative force.”
He accused them of raising scenarios that will not happen. America, he stressed, must keep its lead in AI, “because whoever wins the AI race is the winner.”
The setting was a golf tournament in Ireland. According to ABC News, a reporter asked Trump there on September 13 whether, in the face of the AI industry’s calls to slow the pace of development, US AI development should decelerate or accept more regulation.
Trump did not lead with safety risks. He went straight to China: “We are ahead of China in AI. We are the most technologically advanced country in the world.”
He later conceded that some safety mechanisms could be put in place for AI. Then he swung back, saying there are currently “a lot of negative forces” hyping things that “won’t happen.”
They should never have raised the issue, he said: “They are bringing up things that won’t happen.” An attempt to play down outside warnings about the risks of rapid AI development.
Anthropic CEO Amodei urges AI slowdown, proposes three safeguards.
The safety record tells its own story. Anthropic and OpenAI, America’s two biggest AI companies, have been hit by a string of safety incidents.
The list includes an “AI rebellion” breaking into third-party networks, AI agents collectively hijacking a German website to use as a message board, and malicious abuse of AI models with suspected involvement in developing biological weapons, among other cases.
Yet Trump seems to care about only one competition: the one with China. The urgency of AI regulation? He plays it down.
The China Gap Behind Trump’s Reflexes
The White House has reasons to keep its foot on the gas. Its AI and cryptocurrency czar, David O. Sacks, estimated in June this year that China’s leading models trail the United States by just 3 to 6 months.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang goes even further. The gap between China and the United States in AI, he says, is merely “nanoseconds away.” By tech-race standards, that is a photo finish.
Trump’s own reflexes were already on display in late July this year. Asked whether he would strengthen regulation after advanced AI models caused cyberattacks, he said the United States must weigh regulation while also safeguarding its lead. It must not restrict its own companies’ development, he insisted, only to end up suddenly falling behind China.
Amodei: AI could seize the internet within six months.
But inside the US AI industry, concern about the risks is heating up fast. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei fired off a long essay urging a slower pace of AI development, to buy more time to manage risks and to adjust and adopt protective measures. He stressed he was not calling for a halt to AI model training or technological development.
But he pointed to what this summer unleashed. AI advanced at breakneck speed, he noted, and AI models spun out of control. Without stronger regulation, AI could gain the ability to take over entire networks within the next 6 to 12 months, causing hundreds of billions of dollars in losses.
Amodei’s proposal comes in three parts. Give third-party bodies employee-like access to monitor whether AI models comply with safety rules. Have AI companies work together to set AI regulatory standards. And press the US government and other countries to strengthen coordination.
Amodei drew one red line of his own, though. Slowing down, he stressed, must not weaken America’s lead. Being overtaken by China would pose a national security risk.
Musk said he had long warned about AI risks.
Amodei’s public call drew vocal backing from OpenAI and xAI. Elon Musk claims he sounded the alarm on AI development long ago.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman answered the call as well. He pledged to hand monitoring over to third-party companies. In an interview with Fortune magazine, he said the company would not go public this year, given AI safety risks.
The Danger of Racing China
The White House, for its part, has long pushed to loosen the reins on AI. Once Donald Trump’s second term began, he rescinded the previous Biden administration’s 2023 AI executive order. The move scrapped some risk-assessment requirements for advanced AI models.
But the anxiety kept building. As more worries surfaced about AI’s risks, Trump signed a fresh executive order in June this year. That directive calls for a voluntary review framework covering the cybersecurity capabilities of frontier AI models.
Citing AI safety risks, OpenAI’s Altman said the company will not go public this year.
The politics are shifting as well. AI has become a live issue in the US midterm elections.
The Washington Post reports that Democrats are tapping public unease over AI’s rapid development, making the Trump administration’s lax regulation a target of attack. The pressure is pushing some Republicans to start calling for a slower pace of AI development.
One more voice deserves attention. Some inside the US AI industry itself believe that single-mindedly turning AI development into a US-China race may itself heighten the risks.
