Perhaps she claimed so, but Czech (as most Slavic languages) has no grammatical articles at all – which sometimes causes a lot of trouble especially to someone who learns English later in his life, as it makes a bit difficult to wrap one’s mind around the very concept.

Nevertheless, not using any article with someone’s personal name is the most easiest thing to do for a Czech when speaking English. (Of course, some Czechs resort to just random “peppering” their English with articles, in hope that the statistical probability alone would secure some level of grammatical correctness.:-) )

I think I first heard of Trump when he was involved with the United States Football League back in the mid-1980s. He owned one of the teams, and he is credited/blamed with bankrupting the league. His business acumen has not improved since.

the Washington Post had to run an item during the campaign explaining where “The Donald” came from, the term has become so obscure. It was, of course, his wife Ivana, who referred to him this way, as a matter of translation from the style of Czech to the style of English.

Ahhh. I never knew that… But it clicks into place. Not just a Czech thing either. A Hungarian acquaintance uses the definite article when speaking of her husband: “the Gabor”.