The Banality of the White House Fast-Food Banquet

[struggle4progress]

By Helen Rosner
11:24 A.M.

... on Monday night, the photos began to roll out of Trump grinning behind a mahogany dining table arranged with silver trays bearing stacked boxes of Filet-o-Fishes and Quarter Pounders, and McNuggets, and a few dozen of something in paper wrappers from Wendy’s, and piles of anonymous-looking salads, and a couple of pizzas, and Burger King fries that some hapless aides had decanted into paper cups bearing the Presidential seal ...

... One imagines those poor sandwiches steaming limply inside their cardboard boxes on the drive to the White House, and during the fuss over arranging them on their silver platters (with sauces sorted by type and piled high in silver gravy boats) and properly lighting the gilded candelabra ... There is a particular awfulness to McDonald’s or Burger King once it’s gone cold. By the time America’s greatest collegiate football players arrived, in their navy blazers and Sunday shoes, to pick up porcelain plates and work their way through this cardboard buffet, the French fries would have grown cold and mealy, the burger buns soggy, the precise half slice of American cheese on each Filet-o-Fish sandwich hardened to a tough, flavorless rectangle of yellow ...

... we might wonder if there is also something more pure in his decision to bring in a drive-through feast for the history books: an attempt, however opportunistic, for a man who loves fast food to fulfill his straightforward desires—a gilded hall filled with as many fried and griddled patties as money can buy, more Filet-o-Fishes and Quarter Pounders than one body could possibly consume, the teetering towers a quantifiable testament to his Presidential power. “We went out and we ordered American fast food, paid for by me,” Trump boasted ... “Lots of hamburgers, lots of pizza. Three hundred hamburgers. Many, many French fries.”

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-appearances/the-pure-american-banality-of-donald-trumps-white-house-fast-food-banquet

[Marie Marie]

1. Yes that food is barely passable when eaten hot.

Luke warm or cold - yeeech!

[Cha]

2. KR!

[betsuni]

3. Trump with Junk Food Feast is the most American thing I've ever seen.

[GusBob]

6. Yep typically American, plus the misspelled tweet

A veritable symbol of our time

“Hamberders” is not a typo but it is now added to our lexicon

[canetoad]

14. Served smocking hot. nt

[MontanaMama]

4. Kick.

Yuck. That “food” isn’t good for anybody and it is an insult to serve it from the People’s House.

[sheshe2]

5. All that junk food will be tossed in the trash.

Tossed when furloughed workers go hungry.

[MLAA]

8. Good point.

[smirkymonkey]

7. The more I think of this, the angrier it makes me.

This was a slap in the face to those athletes. What an insult! He is such a vulgar, cheap, ungracious pig. I can't believe they even showed up and allowed themselves to be humiliated by him. I just hate him so much!

[MLAA]

10. And with more and more athletes using nutrition (and particularly veganism) as a competitive

weapon...I bet many of them would not have chosen to put all those unnatural ingredients and preservatives in their bodies.

[fierywoman]

9. I keep thinking that photo looks like tRump's wet dream.

[czarjak]

11. This is what passes for a good idea when idiots are involved.

[allgood33]

12. I'm going to say this here. Look at the make-up of the Clemson football team.

Then think about the menu Trump ordered to serve them. He probably believes deep down in his hollow heart that they do not deserve any better.

Bet the SOX get a full meal.

[Grasswire2]

13. I was reading yesterday how carefully calibrated each of those athlete's diets are. Micro managed...

....each day for each player specifically.

Schlub called this food the best.

[Lars39]

15. Trump has probably always eaten his fast food cold.

He never goes himself to get the food.

I think the fast food “feast” is also another way he’s saying fu to the Obamas. He’s inferring that they didn’t pay for their guests’ food. He’s also trying to negate Michelle Obama’s endorsement of healthier meals for kids.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

16. Trump's a trashy bastard

His ignorance knows no bounds.

My son is a football coach. Their annual banquet is when they "pig out" and it is all home-cooked food brought to the banquet by parents and supporters. The season is over and they don't have to worry about balancing meals with their output. A table piled with fast food take-out would be an insult.