# NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 4) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 22, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678 "2025-02-22T21:08:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 105
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2081 "2025-11-19T18:01:06Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > > [@Horatius](#): > > > > But it would be relatively trivial for him to fix that - just buy > > …a fryer. I’m sure the WH cook staff can handle running one. Hell, he can even get real MickyD fries and oil. > > It’s too logical, which is why it’ll never happen. That’s what I don’t understand about his obsession with fast food. At the White House, he has a chef employed by the government capable of making French fries or a hamburger or fried chicken from scratch, using better ingredients than the fast food restaurants and get the food served faster and fresher than sending someone out to buy real fast food. And when he’s at Mar-A-Lago, there is also a chef, though one paid by the club rather than the federal government. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2082 "2025-11-19T18:09:42Z")
Well, there’s this: [https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4239810-trump-terrified-of-being-poisoned-former-aide/](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4239810-trump-terrified-of-being-poisoned-former-aide/) > “He does have a very potent fear of being poisoned,” Hutchinson told comedian [Jimmy Kimmel](https://thehill.com/people/jimmy-kimmel/)on his late night show. “So he uses and prefers the small Heinz glass ketchup bottles, because he likes to hear his valet or whoever’s serving him his meal, he likes to hear the ‘pop.’” > **[President Trump reportedly has a 'longtime fear of being poisoned'](https://www.aol.com/news/president-trump-reportedly-apos-longtime-163155838.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAA7l9uswCN6RwDDDdXF5bUZEEUcAK_g8daa-HT3YZHDOn_MgYqjYuFAadDSBfaTVguDrR7WDHVvbZTw-Jf1KKIkd6JtLjk9CXi0ZjOdzwnFbMDW7SgLqw6Q6nxSD4zFfFUB80G5rieOECLSIVuIWv055LE_gD4LeuQ2Grtdbw2F4)** > > It’s “one reason why he liked to eat at McDonald’s—nobody knew he was coming and the food was safely premade." > Wolff also linked the president’s deep fear of being poisoned to his apparent adoration for fast food, especially McDonald’s. It’s “one reason why he liked to eat at McDonald’s—nobody knew he was coming and the food was safely premade,” Wolff wrote. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2083 "2025-11-19T18:14:49Z")
Surely he can trust the White House chef (who, presumably, has been thoroughly investigated) or the Mar-A-Lago chef (someone who knows who he’s working for) not to poison or doctor his food? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2084 "2025-11-19T18:16:06Z")
Paranoia, by definition, isn’t entirely rational. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2085 "2025-11-19T18:26:16Z")
> Wolff also linked the president’s deep fear of being poisoned to his apparent adoration for fast food, especially McDonald’s. It’s “one reason why he liked to eat at McDonald’s—nobody knew he was coming and the food was safely premade,” Wolff wrote. Isn’t getting food from a random fast food place (or any random restaurant) somewhat normal for presidents, for exactly that reason? There’s less, if any, concern that food has been tampered with when no one knows it’s for the president. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2086 "2025-11-19T18:32:27Z")
> [@Jihi](#): > > Now I’m waiting for the drive-thru window to be installed where the East Wing used to be. Convenience for buying pardons and offering bribes A bribe-thru window. We could get one installed on every City, County, State, & Federal government building to make our journey to being a banana republic complete. ---
**Author:** ![irae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f0a364/32.png) [@irae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irae)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2087 "2025-11-19T18:57:06Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Isn’t getting food from a random fast food place (or any random restaurant) somewhat normal for presidents, for exactly that reason? There’s less, if any, concern that food has been tampered with when no one knows it’s for the president. That’s the genius part! It’s _all_ poisoned! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2088 "2025-11-19T19:44:09Z")
Maybe el presidente needs a food taster? Or a couple. You can’t be too careful, maybe one has developed a resistance to iocaine powder. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2089 "2025-11-19T19:45:50Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > That’s what I don’t understand about his obsession with fast food. At the White House, he has a chef employed by the government capable of making French fries or a hamburger or fried chicken from scratch, using better ingredients than the fast food restaurants and get the food served faster and fresher than sending someone out to buy real fast food. I can’t remember who any more but some years ago I read the memoirs of one of the big-time reporters during WWII. He told about a few days before D-day he was invited to the White House for a background briefing about he had to sit on until the news broke. He arrived at 9pm and talked for a while with FDR. The President suddenly said, “Say, I’m hungry. Are you hungry? Let’s get something to eat,” picked up the phone and ordered a couple hamburgers be sent to the Oval Office. In due time they arrived on a couple platters and, “It was the best damn hamburger I had in my life.” A while later the briefing was over and when he was being led out he asked if he could stop by the kitchen. There he raved to the chef who was on duty and the guy pointed to a chunk of prime rib sitting next to a grinder. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2090 "2025-11-20T02:31:42Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > At the White House, he has a chef employed by the government capable of making French fries or a hamburger or fried chicken from scratch, using better ingredients than the fast food restaurants and get the food served faster and fresher than sending someone out to buy real fast food. If it was made fresh from better ingredients, it wouldn’t taste the same as fast food. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2091 "2025-11-20T02:41:04Z")
It would almost certainly taste better, so who would prefer the fast food meal, especially since it would be cold by the time it got to him? ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2092 "2025-11-20T03:17:55Z")
I won’t dive too deep into ultra-processed foods because I don’t know too much, but ultra-processed foods makes you want it. As Stuart Mackenzie says in the “So I Married An Axe Murderer” documentary, “they put an addictive chemical in it that makes you crave it nightly!”. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2093 "2025-11-20T03:34:53Z")
Earlier this year, a staffer for Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) claimed that she was targeted by three men who bound her with zip ties, beat her up, and carved the words “Trump Whore” into her stomach. Turns out she staged the entire thing, paid a scarrification artist $500 to carve the message onto her, and Googled “zip ties near me” before going out to buy them. > **[Ex-Van Drew staffer staged fake attack, writing 'Trump Whore' across her...](https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/van-drew-staffer-staged-fake-attack-writing-trump-whore-across-her-stomach-and-alleging-men-held-her-down-and-cut-her-body/)** > > A 26-year-old Ocean City woman who claimed she was brutally assaulted because she worked for Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Ocean City) instead orchestrated the ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2094 "2025-11-20T03:53:05Z")
I had not previously heard this used towards a reporter; sorry. I try not to listen to him as much as possible. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2095 "2025-11-20T03:54:07Z")
She wasn’t born yet when Tawana Brawley and Morton Downey Jr. claimed that similar things happened to them. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2096 "2025-11-20T04:18:57Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I try not to listen to him as much as possible. That sounds sane. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2097 "2025-11-20T05:15:17Z")
Who could it be…? Someone who likes [well-done steak with ketchup on it](https://www.eater.com/2017/2/28/14753248/trump-steak-well-done-ketchup-personality)? Do we know anyone like that? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2098 "2025-11-20T05:22:52Z")
It amazes me that Trump, who has had money most of his life (even as a child, his family was wealthy), has such terrible taste. Heck, he even wears his neckties too long. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2099 "2025-11-20T05:47:24Z")
Aside from his never having emotionally matured beyond a grade school level, Trump suffers from an incurable case of Gatsby Syndrome. He’s New Money who wishes he was Old Money. The suits, the golfing, the obsession with gold - it’s all an attempt to affect the trappings of a social circle that wouldn’t have him because his dad made his money in the grocery business instead of inheriting it. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2100 "2025-11-20T05:57:53Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > It amazes me that Trump, who has had money most of his life (even as a child, his family was wealthy), has such terrible taste. Since when does money equal good taste? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=104) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=106)