Donald Trump is known for a lot of things, and one is his serious love of fast food.
You might even call it an obsession.
But how did this obsession start and why has is carried with him all the way to the presidency?
Here's the secret behind Trump's love of fast food.
“How do you do it?
What's your secret?"
"Mm-hmm."
If you ever watched commercial television in the '90s, you'll be all too familiar with
Donald Trump's fascination with fast food and junk food.
Long before he was even thinking about a presidential bid, he was appearing in commercials and promoting
fast food chains.
“We eat our pizza the wrong way!"
"Crust first!"
“Why do New Yorkers have such big mouths?"
"Go big, or go home!"
"Because they eat big pizza!"
And Trump's habit only got worse during the presidential campaign.
It's notoriously difficult for presidential candidates to get a healthy meal on the campaign
trail, which often leads to overeating.
In 2012, for instance, Mitt Romney's campaign coined the term "slunch" to describe the second
lunch they would eat each day — though of course, the proper term for a meal between
lunch and dinner is "dunch."
“What about second breakfast?"
"I don't think he knows about second breakfast, Pip."
So it's no surprise that in their book Let Trump Be Trump, former campaign workers Corey
Lewandowski and David Bossie claimed that Trump had four major food groups:
"McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza, and Diet Coke."
Trump's love of fast food is also a strategic choice.
According to Republican strategist Russ Schriefer, Trump uses fast food to make himself seem
like a regular guy, instead of a billionaire celebrity.
"There's nothing more American and more of-the-people than fast food.
It is the peculiarity of the brand that he's able to be on his multimillion-dollar jet
with the gold and black branding and colors, and at the same time eat KFC — and what
makes it perfect is he does it all with a knife and fork, while reading The Wall Street
Journal."
Even Kellyanne Conway has claimed that
"it goes with his authenticity.
[…] I don't think Hillary Clinton would be eating Popeye's biscuits and fried chicken."
And when a BBC reporter asked one-time White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci
According to Michael Wolff, author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, Trump
has
"had a longtime fear of being poisoned, one reason why he liked to eat at McDonald's — nobody
knew he was coming and the food was safely premade."
That's apparently a stark contrast to other eateries which he fears may seek vengeance
upon him via culinary malfeasance.
"I don't want to go into a restaurant and say, Mr. Trump would like a hamburger to go.
Now, I don't know what they're going to do to that hamburger.
If they like me, I’m happy."
Though Trump's iophobia existed long before he became president,
Things have been taken to a new level now that he's in the White House, where staff
members are prohibited from touching his toothbrush and other personal items.
And when asked if there were people in the White House she distrusts, first lady Melania
Trump told ABC News,
"You always need to watch your back."
No wonder Trump keeps turning to figures everyone can trust instead!
It's not just poison that Trump fears, it's also germs.
Trump revealed in his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback that he's a germaphobe, writing,
"I happen to be a clean hands freak.
I feel much better after I thoroughly wash my hands, which I do as much as possible."
"I'm also very much of a germaphobe, by the way, believe me."
He even admitted to Howard Stern,
"It could be a psychological problem."
So it makes sense that Trump prefers fast food, which he can get at the takeout window
and eat in the safety of his own plane or luxury high rise.
In a 2016 rally in South Carolina, Trump praised fast food joints for being so clean.
"One bad hamburger, you can destroy McDonald's.
One bad hamburger and you take Wendy's and all these other places and they're out of
business."
He further explained,
"I'm a very clean person.
I like cleanliness.
And I think you're better off going there than maybe some place that you have no idea
where the food's coming from."
According to a 2018 report by Bloomberg,
"Trump weighed in borderline obese at his first presidential physical in January.
[…] At 239 pounds and 6 feet, 3 inches tall, Trump measured just one pound below obese
under guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
"You heard the doctor.
The president has passed every exam we gave him.
Physical exam.
Mental exam.
The Tide Pod challenge?
Crushed it!"
After the exam, Trump's doctor recommended he cut back on his fast food habit.
And Trump also has some peculiar ways of trying to make his meals healthier.
For instance, he reportedly skips the bun when he eats fast food sandwiches.
Similarly, he claims that when eating pizza, he skips the dough and just eats the toppings.
And he always opts for Diet Coke with his meal.
Ordering a diet soda with a fast food meal so he can pretend it's healthy?
Maybe the President is like the rest of us after all!
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