Here's Why Donald Trump Loves McDonald's So Much

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You might think that, with all that power and money (not to mention having a White House chef at their disposal), it would be champagne and lobster every night at the White House. But Grover Cleveland went into raptures over corned beef and cabbage while Eisenhower liked to cook his steaks directly on the coals. Although Donald Trump does enjoy a steak (well-done, with a Diet Coke chaser), his go-to meal comes from McDonald's, and he has his reasons.

According to the 2018 book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House", Trump enjoys dining at the Golden Arches because he fears he may be poisoned at other establishments. Food made in advance, he feels, is less likely to be tampered with. If he makes arrangements to visit a sit-down restaurant, plenty of people will know in advance, which increases the chance that something may happen to his food. If he swings by Mickey D's drive-thru unannounced, however, he'll get the same premade, paper-wrapped burger that would be served to any other customer.

The POTUS has cited another reason why he enjoys eating fast food in general and McDonald's in particular. He's an admitted germophobe, and he feels these establishments have higher standards for food hygiene than independent eateries. As he speculated in an interview with Anderson Cooper, if a fast food chain were to serve a bad burger, it might be enough to put them out of business. (This logic apparently doesn't apply to burritos, since Chipotle has weathered multiple food poisoning incidents.)

So, what does Donald Trump like to order when he goes to McDonald's? If it's morning, he'll likely go for an Egg McMuffin, although he's said he's really not much of a breakfast person. Later in the day, however, he'll likely place a pretty substantial order. In "Let Trump Be Trump: The Inside Story of His Rise to the Presidency," a 2017 memoir by former campaign managers Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, it was reported that one of Trump's favorite meals consisted of two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and what was described by the president as a "chocolate malted." No, McDonald's doesn't sell malted milk, Trump has called milkshakes by this term since childhood.

While the aforementioned meal does total a hefty 2,440 calories, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner reported that the president's favorite McDonald's meal as he knew it was somewhat smaller in size. He's observed Ivanka's dad ordering just one Big Mac, one Filet-O-Fish, fries, and a vanilla shake. This still comes out to 1,800 calories. A pretty large meal, true, but since it may be the POTUS' only meal of the day, it's likely he sees it as less of an indulgence than a necessity.