Trump's post-COVID plan to reveal a Superman T-shirt beneath his button-down after leaving the hospital was inspired by the singer James Brown, book says

• Trump had a post-Covid plan to reveal a Superman T-shirt beneath his button down after leaving the hospital.
• The plan was inspired by his love of watching singer James Brown toss off his cape on stage, Maggie Haberman reports.

Former President Donald Trump's plan to reveal a Superman T-shirt beneath his button-down dress shirt after leaving the hospital was inspired by the late singer known as the "Godfather of Soul."

Trump told his associates that he came up with the plan because loved watching James Brown, who sang the hit "I Got You (I Feel Good)," toss off his cape while on stage, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman writes in "Confidence Man," according to an excerpt published by Axios.

Brown, who died in 2006, delighted crowds with his cape routine,which involved the show's emcee draping Brown with a cape as he feigned exhaustion, only for him to toss it off and return to the microphone for an encore.

After Trump was treated for COVID-19 in October 2020, he wanted to be wheeled out of Walter Reed Military Medical Center in a chair so that he could "dramatically stand up," open his shirt and reveal the Superman logo, Haberman writes in the book to be released Tuesday.

"Trump was so serious about it that he called the campaign headquarters to instruct an aide, Max Miller, to procure the Superman shirts; Miller was sent to a Virginia big-box store," she wrote, according to Axios.

Trump was in the hospital for three days after announcing his positive COVID test on Twitter.

He apparently didn't abandon his interest in appearing as Superman. His Save America PAC offers an "ULTRAMAGA" T-shirt — capitalizing on President Joe Biden's term— with a cartoon picture of Trump in a Superman costume with a "T" on his chest for a $45 contribution or more.