Donald Trump's Love Affair With Fast Food Is Legendary

How much do you love McDonald's? Enough to opt for a drive-thru meal every once in a while? What about enough to make it an actual staple of your diet? Or to serve an entire Mickey D's spread to a high-profile dinner party, or to have it delivered to you in the middle of court? If you answered in the affirmative to the last three scenarios, then your love of the golden arches might be comparable to former President Donald Trump. 

Indeed, the reality TV personality, real estate mogul, and former leader of the free world has not been shy about his love for McDonald's and other fast food bites. Even his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., vouched for his father's Mickey D's obsession on an episode of his "Triggered" podcast in February 2023.

While discussing Trump's affinity for McDonald's and his knowledge of the fast food chain's menu, Trump Jr. asserted, "100% accurate, okay. No one knows it better. No one probably eats more of it, per capita, than Donald Trump."

Former President Donald Trump's love of McDonald's first became a topic of discussion on the 2016 presidential campaign trail. While speaking to Anderson Cooper of CNN, Trump confirmed that McDonald's was his favorite fast food fix, opting for the Filet-O-Fish, Big Mac, or Quarter Pounder with Cheese. And this love for fast food was a recurring theme throughout his presidency. 

Trump welcomed the Clemson Tigers to the White House with an all-fast food buffet, including his favorite burgers and fish sandwiches from McDonald's, in January 2019. While visiting the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment in February 2023, Fox 8 reported that Trump made a pit stop at McDonald's to pick up food for East Palestine responders and residents. The former President reportedly bragged about his knowledge of the McDonald's menu to the store's employees and asked the cashier for "a nice array of things." 

McDonald's seems to be Trump's comfort and stress food, too. Trump went against doctor's orders while being treated for COVID-19 in 2020 by having McDonald's ordered to Walter Reed Hospital during his stay. In October 2023, TMZ spotted security guards carrying at least six bags of McDonald's takeout into the Manhattan Supreme Court, where New York Attorney General Letitia James was suing Trump for criminal tax fraud.

Based on what former President Donald Trump typically eats in a day, he clearly has a meat-and-potatoes type of palate (more specifically, hamburgers and french fries). But it isn't just the flavor that keeps Trump returning to the drive-thru for more. As he explained to Anderson Cooper on CNN in 2016, it has to do with safety, cleanliness, and fast food franchise's legal requirement to produce sanitary meals or risk being shut down. 

"It's great stuff," Trump asserted to Cooper. "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. I like cleanliness, and I think you're better off going there than maybe someplace that you have no idea where the food is coming from."

Michael Wolff, author of "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," reported that Trump's longtime fear of being poisoned makes McDonald's a more savory option. "One reason why he liked to eat at McDonald's — nobody knew he was coming, and the food was safely premade," Wolff wrote (via Business Insider). In the book "Let Trump Be Trump," Trump's former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said the former President's go-to Mickey D's order was two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and a chocolate shake, per The Guardian — which might explain why the security guards had to carry so many bags into the Manhattan Supreme Court.