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McDonald’s on a silver platter: What does the White House junk food feast say about Trump?
The president greeted the Clemson Tigers college football champion with an unforgettable dinner: pizza, over 300 McDonald’s and Wendy’s burgers, and “lots and lots” fries. It was a dinner fit for a president who stood out for his declared love of fast food and his efforts to relax healthy eating standards.
President Donald Trump, who ran out of cooks in the White House due to the federal government shutdown, rewarded the champion Clemson Tigers with fast food. Menu? “A small pizza with McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“I think this is going to be his favorite food, so we’ll see what happens… I love everything. I love everything,” Trump told reporters. “Everything is good, good American food.”
Trump’s assumption that it will “become his favorite food” says more about the taste than anything else. His statement also shows how Trump views his love of junk food as a display of patriotism and a tribute to a more carefree past.
When pressed by a reporter about whether he prefers McDonalds or Wendy’s, Trump made the following statement:
“If he’s American, I like it. Everything is American… But that’s fine, and we have our national champion, you know, the Clemson Tigers. They had a great game against Alabama and it’s all here. They’re just outside the venue and I guess we’ll let them see it. But I bet we got groceries, we got pizza, we got 300 hamburgers, lots of fries. , our favorite foods. I want to see what’s in here when we go because I don’t think much will happen. The reason we do this is because it’s closed. We want to make sure everything is okay, so we sent it, we got it. And we have great people working in the White House. They helped us with this.
Clemson Tigers coach Jeff Scott tweeted a photo with the caption, “President’s Dinner #InSilverBand.”
Head of Junk Food
Some wonder if the White House cooks are down because of the shutdown, why not pay them to cook another occasional dinner? Trump also has a hotel a few blocks away, so why not bring those cooks in, too? The hotel also has a steakhouse, a sushi restaurant and a lounge bar serving champagne and fine cheeses. Why not hire one of these options?
This is partly because, as he has made clear on many occasions, he really likes junk food. At a town hall on CNN in February 2016, Anderson Cooper asked him, “I understand you’re also a fast food guy and sometimes bring fast food on your plane. What does Donald order when you go to McDonald’s? Trump?”
Later, the contestant said, “Fish Delight sometimes. [audience laughter] Big Macs are great, Quarter Pounders with cheese.”
A 2016 New York Times profile of Trump’s eating habits, among many other presidents at this point, sheds light on how he differs from previous presidents.
“In an age of obsession with good food and healthy ingredients, Mr. Trump is returning to a more carefree past in American cooking, where no one bothers to ask if tomatoes are grown locally, and the First Lady certainly doesn’t have a tomato. Garden.” with a beehive in the South Garden of the White House.”
Images from Trump’s fast food banquet at the White House
“Make America Great Again”
There’s also a lot to be said for how this dinner fits into the Trump aesthetic: silver plates and ketchup packets, pizza heated by candlelight. Although a shocking image, it actually fits very well with what Trump stands for. The president built his campaign by trying to reach “ordinary people” who seek luxury but love plain, greasy, salty-sweet, albeit not healthy, “ordinary” people.
Wanting to go back to “a more carefree past”, one of the pillars of the philosophy behind his campaign and agenda as president is to “make America great again.” It’s about returning to an America where coal mining factories proliferate and few care about their environmental impact, pregnant women can smoke without judgment, and the traditional high-fat, high-carb diet is detrimental to public health. .
There was a time when fast food was “everyone’s favourite,” as Trump put it, but it’s mostly kids’ favourites. A choice that some will see as simple and mundane, and others as childish and irresponsible.
In fact, it’s safe to say how unhealthy Monday’s presidential banquet was: The Washington Post determined how many calories were in the room thanks to CalorieKing: about 310,000 and 16,000 grams of fat, excluding sauces and dressings.
And it’s not just personal taste that Trump embraces less healthy foods. This is a president who has also subverted the healthy standards imposed by former First Lady Michelle Obama for school cafeteria food. Gone are the days when the First Lady guarded the White House garden with a beehive.
To be honest, former President Barack Obama was also a well-known burger lover, despite playing basketball and working out regularly. The same former first lady who also organized the “Let’s Move” campaign admitted her “obsession with french fries”. Michelle Obama visited Washington Shake Shack when it opened and ordered the ShackBurger with fries, milkshake and Diet Coke. Difference? When you normally exercise and eat well, things we know Trump don’t know, “splurges are the key to life,” he said.
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