The real reason Donald Trump always eats fast food will make you feel bad for him
Donald Trump loves fast food. The president avoids alcohol, but he has other vices. Trump loves McDonald’s. He generally prefers fast food chains to local DC burger joints. (If you were wondering, Trump likes American cheese, but not pickles, on his burger.) And Trump likes extra servings of dessert, too.
Donald Trump is not afraid of his love of fast food, and there are many reasons why he loves fast food. One reason has to do with a fear that goes back decades (page 9). But the biggest reason of all has to do with factors directly at the President’s White House residence (page 10).
10. He loves the taste of fast food
The New York Times calls Trump “the nation’s fast food president.” And he probably wouldn’t challenge that title. Although he can afford to eat wherever he wants, Trump likes McDonald’s, where he orders a Filet-O-Fish, a Big Mac or a Quarter Pounder. During the campaign trail, he also ate Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King on his private plane. Like many Americans, he just loves fast food.
Yet, as the Times explains, “Trump’s nerd, low-brow image — of the jet-set mogul who carries buckets of fried chicken on his private jet with the gold-plated seatbelt buckles — is also carefully crafted”. Presidential candidates often use food to find common ground with voters. A Republican strategist told The Times, “There is nothing more American and more popular than fast food.
9. Eating fast food probably became a habit during the election campaign.
The New York Times notes that “junk food has long been a staple of electoral life” for Trump and other presidential candidates. This habit comes mostly from necessity. But we all know that habits are hard to break. Donald Trump did not stop eating fast food once installed in the White House. Politico even reported that Trump asked the White House kitchen staff to replicate one of his favorite fast food dishes.
The president asked the kitchen to make him a quarter pound. (He wanted it with cheese, no pickles, and extra ketchup. Plus, he asked for fried apple pie for dessert.) The staff reportedly “couldn’t match the satisfaction” of the real deal. So a bodyguard walked down New York Avenue to the McDonald’s to get the meal.
8. Like many Americans, Donald Trump doesn’t consider himself a foodie.
Another reason why Donald Trump eats fast food? The Times characterizes Trump as “the kid from Queens who crossed the river to the glittering Manhattan skyline, but never listened to the city’s haute cuisine.” The president has simple tastes and likes to stick to what he knows. Trump is fine with that — like most Americans.
Surveys indicate that nearly half of Americans who eat out consider themselves “foodies.” But this proportion is much higher among young Americans than among older ones. Gourmets like to discover new flavors when they go out to eat and they like to discover international cuisines. But Donald Trump doesn’t seem to care either.
7. Trump says it’s pretty healthy
Trump’s typical campaign order was heavy. Two Big Macs, two Filet-o-Fish and a chocolate shake don’t exactly make a healthy meal. In fact, it contained almost a day’s worth of calories. How did Trump justify this? He removed the buns. According to Trump, this solved all the health problems.
6. Diet drinks control its size
Donald Trump’s favorite drink is Diet Coke, and we all know if it’s “diet” it’s healthy, right? Trump seems to believe that these small choices in his otherwise unhealthy diet will really make a difference to his health.
5. The President first liked fast food chains for their cleanliness
Donald Trump also likes fast food chains for a surprising reason: their cleanliness. As The New York Times explains, the president “likes fast food because of its consistency and the promise of at least a basic level of hygiene.”
Trump once told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “One bad burger, you can destroy McDonald’s.” One bad burger, you take Wendy’s and all those other places and they go broke. He added: “I am a very clean person. I like cleanliness, and I think you better go there than maybe someplace where you have no idea where the food comes from. It is a certain standard.
4. Donald Trump is actually a germophobe
When choosing where to eat, the president doesn’t just prioritize cleanliness. Trump has distinctly germaphobic tendencies. He even called himself such, saying he’s “very germaphobic.” And he even called the tradition of the handshake a “barbaric custom” and “terrible”.
In his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback, he wrote, “I happen to be a clean hands maniac. I feel much better after washing my hands thoroughly, which I do as much as possible. Trump also prefers drinking through straws. He eats his pizza with a fork. And he hates pressing elevator buttons or letting the public get too close to him.
3. He might even be OCD about it
Another potential reason why Donald Trump eats fast food? He could use this habit to cope with mental illness. Some people think Trump’s germaphobia could signal obsessive-compulsive disorder — and Trump hasn’t ruled it out. Although a professional should diagnose it, it’s easy to see the links. According to WebMD, “germaphobes are obsessed with sanitation and feel compelled to over-clean, but they really have obsessive-compulsive disorder.”
Verywell Mind reports that the line between germaphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder “isn’t always clear.” Many people worry about germs. But an all-consuming obsession with germs, coupled with compulsive behavior around washing or disinfecting, can signal a problem. In 1993, a young Donald Trump told Howard Stern that he washed his hands “as often as possible” during the day. Trump even conceded: “It could be a psychological problem.
2. Trump has another fear: poison
Another important factor leads Donald Trump to choose fast food. Newsweek reports that according to Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, the president considers fast food his safest option to avoid being poisoned. Wolff wrote that Trump had “a lifelong fear of being poisoned, one of the reasons he loved eating at McDonald’s.” As Wolff noted, Trump’s logic is that “no one knew he was coming and the food was safely pre-prepared.”
The Guardian reports that thanks to the way Wolff wrote about Trump’s fear of being poisoned, it “clearly predates his rise to high office. So it could only get worse” with the very real tensions and dangers of the presidency. Fortunately, with the Secret Service protecting Trump, any enemy would likely have a hard time poisoning him.
1. He doesn’t trust White House staff
Finally, the main reason Trump continues to eat fast food could be that he doesn’t fully trust the White House staff. According to The Huffington Post, Trump’s fear of poison or contagion “led to ‘new rules’ at the White House that prohibited staffers from touching his toothbrush and other personal items, according to Wolff. It is unclear whether the president believed a specific person or group was there to harm him.
The Trump regime seems fueled by several fears. And to be fair, he’s far from the first president to take office with a phobia or two. He doesn’t seem too frightened by the adverse health effects of high-fat foods. But his doctor is watching him — and might even get the president to start an exercise regimen.
