When the Clemson football players entered the White House’s opulent State Dining Room during their visit with President Trump on Monday, they were greeted by a sight many had likely never laid eyes on before.
Boxes of McDonald’s Quarter Pounders, Big Macs and Filet-O-Fish sandwiches were stacked in neat rows next to pyramids of packaged salads. The Wendy’s girl and her wholesome grin decorated mounds of wraps. Silver gravy boats overflowed with packets of dipping sauce for Chicken McNuggets. On a separate table, Domino’s pizzas and french fries repackaged in cups bearing the presidential seal basked under what appeared to be heat lamps.
“I thought it was a joke,” one Clemson player could be overheard saying in a video shared on Twitter, accurately capturing many people’s reaction to the president’s earlier promise to serve college football’s national champions items found on various dollar menus. Only the meal was very real, and late-night hosts and the Internet had a lot to say about it.
Trump has turned the White House into a White Castle. pic.twitter.com/diWssRHfFs
— Patrick Guaschino (@Pat_JG) January 15, 2019
“Of all the crazy things Trump said and did over the weekend, this might be the craziest,” Jimmy Kimmel said on his ABC show Monday night, playing a clip of the president telling reporters how he planned to feed the Clemson Tigers.
“I think we are going to serve McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King’s with some pizza. I really mean it,” Trump said outside the White House earlier in the day. “It will be interesting. I would think that’s their favorite food."
Kimmel didn’t even try to contain his laughter.
“What would possibly make you think that?” he asked incredulously. “I’ll tell you what made him think that. ... He’s paying the check, so he had to get the cheapest food they could find.” (White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the president would be footing the bill because the ongoing partial government shutdown meant those who may have handled the event’s catering were furloughed, The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey reported.)
The host continued, quipping, “And you know he’s taking whatever they don’t eat back to his bedroom. He’ll be like the rat in ‘Charlotte’s Web’ tonight rolling around in Quarter Pounders with cheese.”
Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers mocked the president for hosting a meal that appeared to cater less to the tastes of his guests and more to his own well-documented preferences.
“Mr. President,” Colbert said, his face contorting into an uncomfortable grimace, “is it possible you’re just projecting your favorite foods onto them?”
He then slipped into his well-practiced Trump impersonation to describe an alternate version of Monday’s White House visit.
“We’re going to eat all of their favorite foods — burgers, KFC, taco bowls, two scoops of ice cream,” Colbert said in his Trump voice. “We’re going to watch their favorite movie, the 2016 election results. Then, I will spank them all with a rolled-up Forbes. I hear they’re really into that.”
On NBC, Meyers was equally quick to call out the president.
“He thinks he’s being so sly, ‘Normally, I would have a salad for dinner on Monday, but they told me they only eat every fast food!’ ” the host said, impersonating Trump.
On social media, users didn’t hold back either. By early Tuesday morning, Trump’s fast-food feast was the subject of two Twitter moments, both chock full of shock and derision.
White House Staffer, choking through tears - "I... guess... we could... use the... Lincoln gravy boats... for the... Mc... the McNug... the McNugget sauces." 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/cLxJeYnBwr
— W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) January 15, 2019
“I thought the White House was ‘sposed to be ‘fancy’..” pic.twitter.com/if5DvcU8Qo
— a вlade oғ мarмora (@BarkyBoogz) January 15, 2019
Many felt the bizarre scene in the State Dining Room could have easily been plucked from a film or TV show in which a child is in charge.
Catering a White House event with 300 fast food burgers would be a setpiece in a movie where a kid becomes president
— Nick Wiger (@nickwiger) January 14, 2019
One 12-year-old boy.
— Rob Rousseau (@robrousseau) January 15, 2019
One magic amulet.
One crazy election.
PRESIDENT BIG BOY
coming this fall on NBC pic.twitter.com/kpwpJensoH
Home Alone 5: White House (2019) pic.twitter.com/DnMilER326
— jordan (@JordanUhl) January 14, 2019
For several people, the pictures of Trump’s offerings were familiar.
Straight out of Talladega Nights. pic.twitter.com/QzE4CNj8ca
— Matt Barbish (@M_Barbish) January 15, 2019
It’s like a scene from a Willy Wonka remake with fast food instead of chocolate pic.twitter.com/M5zlcii4aa
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) January 15, 2019
Critics also pointed out that elite college athletes most likely weren’t supposed to be gorging themselves on burgers and fries, and wondered why the president didn’t have his hotel — located just minutes from the White House — provide catering.
Clemson football has an "executive performance chef" dietary coach, whose specific job is to ensure the players do not eat the very food Donald Trump is serving them in the White House tonight https://t.co/oKCj202lhf
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 14, 2019
“Our nutritionist must be having a fit,” one Clemson player was reportedly overheard saying.
POTUS serving only the best in fast food. “Our nutrionist must be having a fit” Clemson player says pic.twitter.com/7MXRpvIkIA
— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) January 14, 2019
All I'm going to say about The White House menu is this... @realDonaldTrump may have blamed the meal on a shutdown and he paid for this himself... but I heard there is this hotel he owns that could have catered *mic drop*
— Daniel Napier (@dan19721121) January 15, 2019
Some conservatives, however, slammed criticisms of Trump’s move as “elitist,” arguing that “real Americans” often eat, and enjoy, fast food. Others, such as FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver, asserted that the meal was an appropriate choice for a group of college students.
Funny to watch Elitist reporters criticize Trump for buying American Fast Food for Clemson football players & coaches. They think they are too good for popular American fast food #maga #BicMacs
— Matt Batzel (@MattBatzel) January 15, 2019
Why the uproar over fast food at White House ? I hate fancy food. Bunch of snobs on twitter. pic.twitter.com/nk5xU4xtMj
— Emily Miller (@EmilyMiller) January 15, 2019
If I were a college student I'd think it was pretty sweet to eat McDonald's in the White House.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) January 14, 2019
Do some of you think college athletes don’t eat or enjoy fast food? I’m just trying to understand what all the fuss is about. You’d be surprised how much fast food college and pro athletes eat. It’s ok to not get upset that he gave them fast food.
— Tom Crabtree (@itsCrab) January 15, 2019
To Trump’s credit, it appeared his guests enjoyed their cheat day as there was reportedly “not much” food left over, according to The Post.
“I mean you’re not just gonna NOT eat the Big Macs stacked in a pile right?” tweeted Clemson offensive lineman Matt Bockhorst, who had been caught on camera smiling impishly as he loaded his plate with two Big Macs, which keen social media users quickly turned into a meme.
And for Bockhorst, the feasting didn’t end at the White House.
“Pocketed two chicken wraps and a quarter pounder,” he wrote in another tweet.
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