Being an Olympic athlete and actually winning is one of the greatest honors any person can achieve for their country, and showering the athletes with commensurate rewards is a national tradition for many countries. For Team USA, however, the rewards were surprisingly simple: double cheeseburgers from good old McDonald’s, served at the White House in Washington DC, courtesy of President Donald Trump.
The celebration took place on February 25, following the State of the Union and Team USA’s return from their Olympic hockey victory over Canada. During the address, President Trump dedicated nearly six minutes to praising the team’s win. Earlier that day, the players were invited to the Oval Office, where they were treated to double cheeseburgers personally catered by the President, as shown in a viral video shared to X.
Of course, to complete the theme, some “patriotic songs,” according to conservative media man Nick Sortor, were also played during the cheeseburger dinner. Meanwhile, some commenters were quick to point out how they must’ve been special cheeseburgers, “You know…I can go get a Double Quarter Pounder whenever I want. But I bet it tastes different in the White House!”
People Online are Torn on the Cheeseburger Reward
The gesture has been showered with praise on the particular X thread, with many Trump supporters praising the President as “Classic Trump! 🇺🇸 Stacks of McDonald’s double cheeseburgers in the White House for Team USA, patriotic tunes blasting—pure American energy! No fancy stuff, just real food for real winners. Love it!” Suddenly, McDonald’s is now “real” food, despite worrying findings about its artificiality.
On the other hand, critics called out the US President for rewarding top Olympic athletes with cheeseburgers, as one commenter assumes, “This isn’t a college team. This is a team of professional players who eat way better than this almost every meal. Then they have to listen to music they don’t like.” Others have joked about the absurdity of the gesture, “History is being written with Big Mac sauce 😭.”
Ironically, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., or RFK, the current Secretary of Health and Human Services, has called McDonald’s “poison” and even criticized Trump’s fast food habits. Hence, there was no shortage of sarcastic sentiments from anti-Trump citizens, such as, “What a dream come true! I wouldn’t want no high-end expensive rib-eye steak if I were invited to the White House! No, give me McDonalds! That meat is so much better than steak! RFK would approve! If it’s good enough for America, it’s good enough for Olympians. MAHA!!!”
