Donald Trump welcomes college football champions to fast food banquet after government shutdown

'Murica

Donald Trump welcomed the national college football champions from Clemson University to the White House on Monday night, where they tucked into a banquet of - checks notes  -fast food. The White House said the president of the United States 'personally paid for' the buffet of 'everyone's favourite fast foods', as much of the catering staff are currently on leave due to the ongoing government shutdown. https://twitter.com/nbcnews/status/1084950931987464192?s=21 It is traditional for the president to welcome college football champions to the White House, as they do with the Super Bowl champions in mid-February. The array of deep fried food on offer is less traditional. Members of the Clemson University football (their version) team looked bemused as they wondered round the table, picking up Big Macs and the like, with one player being caught on mic saying to a teammate that he "thought it was a joke". https://twitter.com/grantstern/status/1084993792061726721 If, like me, you were surprised to hear that champion athletes, future NFL stars, are being rewarded for their achievements with some of the least healthy food on the market, we should remind ourselves that this is Trump. Nothing is beyond the realms of possibility. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/760299757206208512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E760299757206208512&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2019%2F01%2F15%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-burgers-fast-food.html

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Mr. Trump’s press secretary, explained that the government shutdown meant changes would have to be made to the menu.

“Because the Democrats refuse to negotiate on border security, much of the residence staff at the White House is furloughed — so the president is personally paying for the event to be catered with some of everyone’s favourite fast foods,” she said.

The president was beaming with the choice of food on offer, repeatedly referring to how American it was. If there was ever an image to summarise the Trump era - bar the harrowing photographs of immigrant children being separated from their parents at the border - it would be this. Silver platters, stocked with dipping sauces, chips, fish sandwiches and cheeseburgers, in the fucking White House. It is the perfect metaphor for Trump's first term in the oval office.