Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, has vowed to take on the Food and Drug Administration and “Make America Healthy Again.”
The former independent presidential candidate is a big fan of Trump but not so much about the president-elect’s fast-food diet.
During an interview on “The Joe Polish Show,” a marketing industry podcast that aired on Tuesday, Nov. 12, RFK Jr. criticized some of Trump’s food preferences. “The stuff that he eats is really, like, bad,” he stated, describing certain items on the former president’s menu as “poison” in some cases.
“Campaign food is always bad, but the food that goes onto that airplane is, like, just poison,” Kennedy said on the podcast, likely referring to Trump’s private airplane. You have a choice between — you don’t have the choice, you’re either given KFC or Big Macs.” He added that if you’re lucky enough to get those, it’s still a challenge, as he finds the other available option to be “kind of inedible.”
It’s no surprise that Trump knows what he wants to eat and doesn’t give a hoot what others think. You can keep your Tuscan kale, aoli and Buddha Bowl. He’ll have the Oreos and McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich washed down with a Diet Coke, thankyouverymuch.
A book by Trump campaign advisor Corey Lewandowski and former aide David Bossie detailed a regular Trump dinner of two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches and a chocolate malt, according to the Washington Post.
But Trump’s basic tastes shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s seen, followed or covered him over the years.
More: What Trump’s first term might tell us about air and road restrictions around Mar-a-Lago
More: How Trump went from deriding ‘Little Marco’ to nominating Rubio for secretary of state
Trump’s diet: Steak, with ‘no garbage with it’
Shannon Donnelly, who’s covered Trump and his life on Palm Beach for years for the Palm Beach Daily News, says his favorite meal is the following: crabmeat cocktail to start, then either Mrs. Trump’s Meatloaf (his mother’s recipe) or chopped steak with mashed potatoes and gravy. You could assume the president also has a sweet tooth, as vanilla ice cream, cake and cookies have been mentioned often in media reports, but more on that later.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hand out food as they visit the U.S. Coast Guard at the Lake Worth Inlet Station in Riviera Beach on Thanksgiving. (Greg Lovett / The Palm Beach Post)
According to a Palm Beach Post interview with Trump’s former butler at Mar-a-Lago, Tony Senecal, who died in 2020, Trump likes steak, but he likes them well-done, overcooked even, with ketchup.
“He liked his meat well-done and he’d say, ‘No garbage with it,’” Senecal told the Post in 2016. By “garbage,” Senecal said he knew Trump meant no garnish, relishes or vegetables.
As for Trump’s favorite breakfast, he seems to lean toward a greasy spoon staple.
Senecal said a typical breakfast order for The Donald was “Three eggs over-easy with bacon.”
That’s what Trump told People magazine as well. He said although he often skips breakfast, his favorite is bacon medium and eggs over-well.
Donald Trump: A lover of fast food, McDonald’s; KFC
More: Trump presidential redux: The transition will take place in Palm Beach County
Then there’s the fast-food affection. Any fast food: burgers, fried chicken, pizza.
According to multiple media reports, when Trump was on the campaign trail in 2016, or when he was on the road as president during his first administration, planning for meals wasn’t a priority, so grabbing fast food was the usual go-to.
The Washington Post once reported he ate Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, Big Macs and snacked on Oreos during the campaign. He told CNN’s Anderson Cooper at the time: “The Quarter Pounder. It’s great stuff.”
According to the Post’s review of Lewandowski and Bossie’s book, they also say “On Trump Force One there were four major food groups, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza and Diet Coke.”
Sounds like RFK Jr.’s account on the food served has changed.
During his first presidency, Trump has even shared photos of himself on social media eating fast food. There was a post he sent on his jet, eating a bucket of KFC fried chicken, another eating a McDonald’s burger and fries and one of him at his office eating a taco bowl made at the Trump Tower Grill. That latter post came with the cringe-worthy message of “I love Hispanics!” complete with “Happy #CincoDeMayo!”
A self-described germaphobe, Trump has said he thinks fast food restaurants are cleaner than other restaurants. Plus, he’s suggested, if a cook at a restaurant didn’t like him or his policies well, you get the picture.
And as a native New Yorker, Trump may puzzle some with his habit of eating pizza with a fork, but he said he has a reason for that.
He told the Daily Mail that he doesn’t like to eat the crust because he wants to keep his weight down. So he scrapes the toppings off and eschews the dough.
Trump says ‘bring on the Diet Cokes!’
Trump is a self-described teetotaler. Along with alcohol, he also doesn’t drink coffee or tea. But he loves Diet Coke.
Donnelly, the Shiny Sheet reporter, confirms that Trump is a big fan of Diet Coke. According to the New York Times, Trump drinks about a dozen a day. The Times reports that he summons the White House staff with a button if he wants a Coke.
Now if all this sounds like Trump is adverse to vegetables, that doesn’t seem to be the case. He’s known to enjoy a salad, usually with what is likely Thousand Island dressing. At his Mar-a-Lago resort, there’s a “Mr. Trump’s wedge salad” on the menu.
Mar-a-Lago menu in Palm Beach
Of course, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club offers a more high-end menu. During a Christmas Day feast there in the past, it featured Trump’s favorite: a “colossal” crab cocktail. But it also offered other more eclectic tastes: asparagus salad and honey lavender squash soup. The main entrees included choice of turkey, filet mignon, cashew-crusted short ribs, pan-seared sea bass, roasted king salmon and herb-crusted lamb loin and shoulder duo.
And the desserts were “hand-crafted.”
Posted by Lisa Van C on Sunday, December 25, 2016
Donald Trump has a sweet tooth
Speaking of desserts, the president apparently has a sweet tooth.
As TIME magazine once reported, during a dinner at the White House during his first presidency, Trump enjoyed two scoops of vanilla ice cream (while everyone else at the dinner got one) with his chocolate cream pie.
According to The Washington Post, Air Force One’s cupboards were stacked with Oreos and Vienna Fingers, along with potato chips and pretzels.
As Donnelly reported last year, a Christmas Eve feast included a buffet of sweets that lined a wall in a Mar-a-Lago ballroom: pistachio cakes, peppermint bark and giant towers of M&Ms were among other goodies.
The New York Times says he likes See’s Candies.
That chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago is a thing of beauty
Then there’s the famous triple chocolate cake.
Trump was hosting a dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2017 when, during dessert, he informed Xi that he had just launched a missile strike on Syria.
During an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo he explained that night: “We had finished dinner. We’re now having dessert. And we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen and President Xi was enjoying it,” Trump told Bartiromo.
Apparently it’s called the three-layer Trump chocolate cake. And, as you can see from the photo, it is a thing of beauty.
Trump’s love of fast food is passed on … to Clemson football team
After Clemson won the college football national title in 2019, Trump invited the team to the White House, as is customary for most administrations, at least fairly recently.
What made this different was that Trump served a full meal … of fast food: McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s.
In his defense, as USA Today’s Christine Brennan reported at the time, few teams who visit the White House are fed a full meal. Usually, it’s just punch and cookies, or ice cream, but never an actual meal. And, as Brennan reported, certainly not dinner, because all the receptions are normally in the morning or afternoon.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: JFK Jr. criticizes Trump’s love of fast food, McDonalds, Diet Coke
