A Trump administration official has given the public a glimpse of the president’s “patriotic” dining experience on Air Force One.
Monica Crowley, a former Fox News contributor who now serves as Donald Trump’s chief of protocol, posted a photo on X showing off what she called a “Patriotic Freedom 250 meal aboard AF1.” On her tray sat a hamburger slider, a conspicuously small hot dog, and two sugary snacks decorated in American flag colors.
It’s not the first time Air Force One’s catering has raised eyebrows. In May, as Trump made the long trip to China for a summit with President Xi Jinping, special assistant and communications adviser Margo Martin shared the in-flight menu, which promised beef stir fry, spring rolls, and a fortune cookie. The actual serving—a sad-looking stir-fry on gold-rimmed plates flanked by two lonely spring rolls—left something to be desired.
On the Fourth of July, Trump marked the occasion by treating family aboard Air Force One to custom cookies depicting his own face carved into Mount Rushmore alongside those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. His daughter-in-law, Bettina Trump, shared a photo on Instagram.
The presidential diet has drawn comment from within the administration itself. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a podcast in January that he does not know how Trump is still alive at his age given his diet, which Kennedy described as filled with “poison.” Kennedy said Trump, who turned 80 last month, eats better at the White House and Mar-a-Lago but reverts to junk food on the road.
Days after those comments, Trump and his Air Force One traveling party celebrated the rollout of Kennedy’s own MAHA healthy eating guidelines by dining on a cheeseburger topped with a fried egg and bacon.
In 2024, Kennedy was photographed holding a McDonald’s Big Mac aboard Trump’s private jet alongside the president-elect’s inner circle. Donald Trump Jr. posted the image with the caption, “Make America Healthy Again starts TOMORROW.”
