What do you serve the 2019 college football champions at the White House? American fast food, of course! And while President Donald Trump’s offer of burgers and fries to the Clemson Tigers brought media criticism, star freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence still says of the trip to the White House, “It was awesome.”
Trump made the unusual menu choice because of the partial government shutdown, which has led to furloughs of federal workers—including at the White House. Trump, a fast-food lover, says he paid for the meal himself.
“I had a choice. Do we have no food for you, because we have a shutdown?” Trump asked the team gathered Monday in the White House East Room. “Or do I . . . send out for about 1,000 hamburgers?”
The burgers won out. “We ordered American fast food, paid for by me. Lots of hamburgers, lots of pizza,” Trump said. Silver trays held pizzas and stacks of wrapped burgers from Wendy’s, Burger King, and McDonald’s, including Quarter Pounders and Big Macs. White House cups bearing the presidential seal held fries.
Trump went for fast food because otherwise, he joked, first lady Melania Trump and Karen Pence, Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, would have made salads. Joking aside, Trump’s grab-n-go menu did include plastic containers of salads—and silver bowls holding dressing packets.
Players and guests munched multiple burgers at standup tables dotting the East Room.
Afterwards, some Twitter users criticized the president for serving such food to athletes. Others tweeted they thought the menu was just right for college students.
Trump tweeted yesterday about how quickly the food was eaten. “Within one hour, it was all gone. Great guys and big eaters!”
In any case, the unusual meal was an opportunity to “give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
(President Donald Trump talks to the media about the table full of fast food for the Clemson Tigers in the State Dining Room of the White House. AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
