As the famous singer Stevie Wonder once said, “You suffer when you believe in things that you don’t understand.” That’s a powerful message about how superstition can lead people in the wrong direction.
But it seems like Donald Trump hasn’t taken that advice to heart. The former reality TV star, best known for “The Apprentice,” is known to be very superstitious, even though Stevie Wonder strongly dislikes him and supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Trump is known to believe in things he doesn’t fully understand, and sometimes those beliefs can lead to strange or unhealthy behavior. One example is his opinion on exercise.
According to people who’ve played sports with him, Trump avoids physical activity because he believes that the human body is like a battery that loses energy the more you use it. This idea was mentioned in a 2017 article in The New Yorker, and it helps explain why Trump prefers golfing (and allegedly cheating at it) rather than doing any real workout.
Trump’s odd health choices don’t stop there. He has a well-known love for McDonald’s food, and in 2024, he even tried working at one of their restaurants for a publicity stunt. During the visit, he accidentally spilled some salt and quickly threw some of it over his shoulder—a move that comes from an old superstition.
It was once believed that spilling salt would attract the devil, and tossing it over your shoulder would keep the bad luck away. Trump told a staff member at the time, “I’m very superstitious,” according to a report by Sky News. The moment seemed almost comical, as if Trump and the devil were bonding over a shared love of fries.
In the documentary Stormy, actor Seth Rogen shared something even more unusual. He said that Stormy Daniels, who claimed to have had an affair with Trump, told him that Trump believed his strength and status were tied to his hair. According to her, Trump thought that if he lost his hair, he would also lose his power and influence. These strange beliefs are worrying, especially coming from someone who once held the highest office in the United States.
Trump’s superstition doesn’t just affect his personal life—it also spills over into his political decisions. In the book Let Trump Be Trump, former campaign insiders David Bossie and Corey Lewandowski said that Trump would often toss salt during meals to avoid bad luck.
He even refused to prepare a victory or concession speech during the 2016 election campaign because he thought preparing either one in advance might bring bad luck. That might seem quirky, but it raises concerns. A good leader should be ready for every outcome, and avoiding preparation due to superstition can be dangerous when making decisions for an entire nation.
One of the clearest examples of Trump’s superstition influencing policy came in April 2018. He chose to delay announcing new tariffs until April 2, just to avoid doing it on April Fools’ Day. “I didn’t want to be accused of April Fools’ Day,” he explained to lawmakers, calling himself “a very superstitious person.” This excuse led comedian Michael Kosta from The Daily Show to joke that if the announcement had come on April 1, people would’ve just assumed it was another strange Trump move because so many of his actions already seem like jokes.
Stuart Vyse, a psychology expert who spoke on the American Psychological Association’s podcast, explained why people sometimes become superstitious. He said that people who feel like they don’t have control over their lives are more likely to develop superstitions to try and gain some sense of power. In Trump’s case, this makes some sense.
Even as president, there were many things he couldn’t control—like the wind blowing his hair around during a speech on “Liberation Day,” or the behavior of other world leaders. That lack of control may have made him rely more on superstitions, but it also adds tension and unpredictability to the way he leads.
