What is the Trump diet?
In a nutshell, it’s not a very healthy one.
Over the years, Donald Trump has famously said fast food and snacking are part of his regimen. He’s also admitted in interviews that he could stand to lose a few pounds.
During his campaigns for president (all three of them), his diet has come up. Often. According to a compilation of news reports, here’s a rough estimate of “the Trump diet.”
What is the Trump diet? What does Donald Trump like to eat? What are Trump’s favorite meals?
The Trump diet seems to be mostly fast food, lots of snacking, few vegetables and little exercise.
In a February 2016 story with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Trump gushed about a McDonald’s staple: “The Quarter Pounder. It’s great stuff,” he said.
The Palm Beach Post, Trump’s hometown newspaper, has covered the former president for decades, with various journalists reporting about his culinary choices.
In September 2016, the Palm Beach Post’s award-winning reporter Liz Balmaseda posted an interview with Trump’s former butler at Mar-a-Lago, Tony Senecal, who died in 2020. Senecal said Trump likes steak, but he likes it well-done, overcooked even, with ketchup.
“He liked his meat well-done and he’d say, ‘No garbage with it,’” Senecal told the Palm Beach Post in 2016. By “garbage,” Senecal said he knew Trump meant no garnish, relishes or vegetables.
What was it like to work for Trump? Here’s an interview with his former butler, the loyal Tony Senecal
In 2017, Shannon Donnelly, a society columnist who’s covered Trump and his life on Palm Beach for years for the Palm Beach Daily News, said his favorite meal begins with crabmeat cocktail, then either Mrs. Trump’s Meatloaf (his mother’s recipe) or chopped steak with mashed potatoes and gravy. The Palm Beach Post has reported that the president-elect likely has a sweet tooth, as vanilla ice cream, cake and cookies have been mentioned often. He’s also known for his elaborate dessert stations at Mar-a-Lago events and parties.
In 2017, the Washington Post spotlighted a book by Trump campaign advisor Corey Lewandowski and former aide David Bossie. The authors detailed a go-to Trump dinner of two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches and a chocolate malt. What would Trump wash that down with? At the time, the Washington Post — now owned by one of the world’s richest people, billionaire Jeff Bezos — said in a day Trump drank up to 12 cans of Diet Coke. Trump reports that he does not drink alcohol, coffee or tea. He also snacks frequently on Oreos, the report said.
Donnelly, the reporter for the Shiny Sheet (a nickname for the Palm Beach Daily News), confirmed Trump’s love of Diet Coke. In a 2017 story New York Times also reported that Trump drinks about a dozen cans a day, noting that Trump summoned the White House staff with a button if he wanted a Coke.
Does Trump love fast food?
Trump is fond of fast-food. Any fast food: burgers, fried chicken, pizza …
According to the Palm Beach Post’s 2017 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.”
During his first presidency, Trump 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. The latter post came with the message “I love Hispanics!” complete with “Happy #CincoDeMayo!”
A self-described germaphobe, Trump has said he thinks fast food restaurants are cleaner than other restaurants. Another reason to like fast food restaurants, he has suggested, is to avoid a scenario where a cook at a restaurant doesn’t like him or his policies.
As a native New Yorker, Trump has puzzled some with his habit of eating pizza with a fork, but he has a reason: 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.
What does Donald Trump eat for breakfast?
In a December 2015 People magazine story, Trump told the publication his breakfast order: “I love bacon and eggs. Usually I would have that … but oftentimes I skip breakfast. But usually my favorite would be bacon and eggs — bacon medium and the eggs over-well.”
At the time, Trump was preparing for the 2016 presidential election against Democrat Hilary Clinton. When asked what he liked to eat on the campaign trail, Trump said: “It’s only snacks. Because I tend to just be able to eat snacks because it’s so busy and so many people and so much hoopla that literally it’s only snacks. Not the healthiest of eating but it’s there. It would only be snacks. Stuff I wouldn’t necessarily recommend.”
Trump’s former butler, Tony Senecal, told the Palm Beach Post in 2016 that a typical breakfast order for his famous boss was “three eggs over-easy with bacon.”
Trump admitted to People magazine that his diet was not something he’d recommend. But he also boasted in the article that despite that, he had lost weight. Why? Well, crowd size: “There’s so little time to be eating. It’s grabbing … I have lost 15 lbs. on the campaign trail. One of the reasons is I have big crowds … they’re very exciting stops. And when you speak and you really are going at it, you tend to … I never thought it, but speaking is almost a form of exercise. It’s very exhilarating. Last night I was in Knoxville for 12,000 people. When you are speaking to 12,000 great people, you don’t feel like eating. I can understand how people could gain weight but I have lost weight. The events are so exciting. When I’m done I don’t want to eat. I could see how it could go the other way for some people. That’s only because their events are boring.”
Does Trump eat vegetables? Does Trump eat salad?
Though Trump loves fast-food, the former president is not averse to vegetables. Archive Palm Beach Post coverage said he’s known to enjoy a salad, likely with Thousand Island dressing. At his Mar-a-Lago resort, there was a “Mr. Trump’s wedge salad” on the menu.
Does Trump like dessert? Does Donald Trump have a sweet tooth? Is there a Trump chocolate cake?
In 2016, the New York Times said Trump likes See’s Candies.
During Trump’s first presidency (2017 to 2021), TIME magazine reported during a dinner at the White House that Trump enjoyed two scoops of vanilla ice cream (while everyone else at the dinner got one) with his chocolate cream pie.
According to a 2017 Washington Post story, Air Force One’s cupboards were stocked with Oreos and Vienna Fingers, along with potato chips and pretzels.
Society columnist Shannon Donnelly of the Palm Beach Post and Palm Beach Daily News wrote about a Christmas Eve feast at Mar-a-Lago that included a buffet of sweets that lined a wall in the ballroom: pistachio cakes, peppermint bark and giant towers of M&Ms.
Donnelly also detailed 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.
Does Donald Trump exercise? What did the White House doctor say about Trump’s diet?
In February 2020, former White House doctor Ronny Jackson said he couldn’t get former president Donald Trump to exercise much, but he did slightly improve his diet. His expert opinion? He prescribed more exercise and more vegetables.
According to a Feb. 26, 2020, USA TODAY story, Jackson told the New York Times that: “We were making the ice cream less accessible, we were putting cauliflower into the mashed potatoes.”
Trump’s lack of exercise and love for fast food had raised concerns about his health during the 2016 presidential election. But after Trump’s first physical in office, Jackson declared him “fit for duty” and said his “overall health was excellent.”
In the 2020 USA TODAY report, however, questions about Trump’s mental health popped up. Jackson told reporters that tests revealed “no cognitive or mental issues whatsoever.” Jackson reiterated that he recommended Trump should try to lose 10 to 15 pounds: “We talked about diet and exercise a lot. He’s more enthusiastic about the diet part than the exercise part, but we’re going to do both.”
In 2023, when he was 77, Trump lost weight and threw shade at President Joe Biden, who was turning 81
According to November 2023 news reports, Trump claimed he had a glowing health report that showed he lost weight through an “improved diet.” Then 77 years old, the former president again made headlines for his junk food diet. At the same time, he boasted his cognitive exam scores were “exceptional.” He issued the report from his personal physician Dr. Bruce Aronwald to coincide with President Joe Biden’s 81st birthday, which was Nov. 20, 2023.
Just over two weeks before Election Day 2024, Trump worked a shift at McDonald’s in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, making fries and handing out bags of McNuggets and cheeseburgers to preapproved customers in the drive-through window.
The October campaign appearance punctuated accusations he made — without evidence — that Vice President Kamala Harris lied about working at the fast food chain. Trump went to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, for a drive-thru photo op and to woo undecided voters.
When asked what he loves about McDonald’s, Trump donned an apron and said, “I love it all.”
Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump diet consists of fast food, McDonald’s, KFC, ice cream, Diet Coke
