A Fast Food Feast at the White House

 

This is the picture making the rounds on Twitter over the last twelve hours:

Due to the government shutdown, the White House is short-staffed, leading President Trump to order a feast of fast food. The Washington Post reported,

When the Clemson football players entered the White House’s opulent State Dining Room during their visit with President Trump on Monday, they were greeted by a sight many had likely never laid eyes on before.

In the center of the historic room that has hosted royalty, foreign dignitaries and celebrities, a long mahogany table gleamed under the glow of an enormous golden chandelier. A pair of ornate candelabras holding tapered white candles sat on the table amid numerous silver serving platters piled high with what Trump described as “Great American food.”

Funny enough, while the Post described Trump as “roasted” for the move, Cleveland.com reported the Internet was “loving it.”

I was recently in that room for the White House Hanukkah party, and saw the opulence the room is capable of. The sight of boxed burgers on our nation’s finest china makes me uncomfortable, no matter how funny the moment. Guests of the White House shouldn’t have to eat McDonald’s.

But what was the alternative? If Trump had managed to serve a banquet, if he had fed them better food, the headlines would have read “DONALD TRUMP HOSTS FANCY PARTIES WHILE FEDERAL WORKERS ARE LITERALLY IN BREAD LINES.”

It still hasn’t been reported (that I’ve seen, anyway) what Democrats are eating while on a “work trip” to Puerto Rican beaches. Just saying.

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  1. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    toggle (View Comment):

    Matt Balzer, Straw Bootlegger (View Comment):

    I found this.

    I think, given the fact that I don’t remember and/or had never heard of it, there wasn’t that much criticism of it at the time.

    Yea. At least he didn’t blemish our nation’s finest freedom plates. And, he never said it was a mile high (fact check).

    That makes me think of Used Cars and the editing of smiles into miles and claiming the commercial said she had a mile of cars. Maybe these people upset at Trump can get Grandpa Munster to make Trump prove he served a mile of burgers. Maybe Mueller can add it to his list of charges.

    • #91
  2. Steve C. Member
    Steve C.
    @user_531302

    Fred Cole (View Comment):

    KentForrester (View Comment):

    I would rather eat a MacDonald’s hamburger and fries than a fancy-shmanzy meal of litttle over-prepared and precious dollops on a piece of china.

    Perhaps that’s why I voted for Trump. He’s my kind of guy.

    You voted for Trump so he could invite champion athletes to the White House, serve them cold garbage food, and make the event all about himself?

     

    Got it on the first try.

    • #92
  3. Fred Cole Inactive
    Fred Cole
    @FredCole

    ToryWarWriter (View Comment):

    The fact is if Ted Cruz or John McCain or any other ‘approved’ Republican had done this in the middle of a government Shut Down, @fredcole would be applauding it and calling it a brilliant PR Stunt.

     

    This is true.  Because if there’s one thing you can rely on Fred Cole to do, it’s tow the Republican Party line and agree with approved Republicans.

    • #93
  4. Fred Cole Inactive
    Fred Cole
    @FredCole

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Fred Cole (View Comment):

    I wonder how many of you would be reacting this way if Obama did the same thing.

    On the “class-o-meter”, serving fast food to football players ranks well above giving the Queen of England an iPod with a bunch of your own speeches on it.

     

    Not quite.  But that’s an interesting comparison.

    The similarities between the two is that both presidents made the act (a gift to the Queen, inviting champion players to the WH) about themselves.

    In the case of Obama, it had a strong whiff of some staff member coming up with the idea.  The McDonald’s thing reeks of Trump.

    • #94
  5. Fred Cole Inactive
    Fred Cole
    @FredCole

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Fred Cole (View Comment):

    I wonder how many of you would be reacting this way if Obama did the same thing.

    On the “class-o-meter”, serving fast food to football players ranks well above giving the Queen of England an Ipod with a bunch of your own speeches on it.

    Or maybe a President serving hot dogs during a picnic lunch to the King and Queen of England.

    I thought of this example too. 

    It’s apples to oranges.  This was an informal picnic at FDR’s own estate and he served a traditional American picnic food.  It’s a charming little story, but it doesn’t really compare.

    Now, if FDR invited the press into the White House and had a photo opportunity about how evil the opposition was and that he had to resort to serving hot dogs to the King and Queen at a White House state dinner, you might have an apt comparison.

    • #95
  6. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Fred Cole (View Comment):
    In the case of Obama, it had a strong whiff of some staff member coming up with the idea. The McDonald’s thing reeks of Trump.

    “I think I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwritersI know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.”

    Yeah, it was Obama’s staff.

    • #96
  7. Michael Brehm Lincoln
    Michael Brehm
    @MichaelBrehm

    For your enjoyment, here is an archived copy of the fact-check; hard-hitting journalism courtesy of the Washington Post (Democracy Dies in Darkness).

    A heartfelt message to the author, Phillip Bump: Phillip, there’s a little voice in the back of your head that tells you that it would be a good idea to fact-check “Pile of burgers a mile high” because that will really show the President. Do not listen to that voice, under any circumstances! That voice is the part of you that resents you for being such a massive tool, and enjoys making you a public laughingstock.

    Remember all the grief you got back in high school, for being Phillip Bump? Some of it is because of your name, true, but a large part of it was because you listened to that voice, and that voice tricked you into doing humiliating things. Your head is inhabited by all kinds of self-loathing sub-personalities that want to sabotage you, so don’t listen to the voice, I cannot stress that enough.

    • #97
  8. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    Michael Brehm (View Comment):

    For your enjoyment, here is an archived copy of the fact-check; hard-hitting journalism courtesy of the Washington Post (Democracy Dies in Darkness).

    A heartfelt message to the author, Phillip Bump: Phillip, there’s a little voice in the back of your head that tells you that it would be a good idea to fact-check “Pile of burgers a mile high” because that will really show the President. Do not listen to that voice, under any circumstances! That voice is the part of you that resents you for being such a massive tool, and enjoys making you a public laughingstock.

    Remember all the grief you got back in high school, for being Phillip Bump? Some of it is because of your name, true, but a large part of it was because you listened to that voice, and that voice tricked you into doing humiliating things. Your head is inhabited by all kinds of self-loathing sub-personalities that want to sabotage you, so don’t listen to the voice, I cannot stress that enough.

    Haha! Journalism Dies in Darkness.

    • #98
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