Former president Donald Trump demands “mundane” meals during Georgia-Alabama showdown in Week 5
Former president Donald Trump has been invited to the week 5 Georgia-Alabama game on Saturday by Alabama businessman Ric Mayer. Although Trump is a billionaire, he is known for having relatively mundane food preferences, considering his financial and social status.
As Mayer invited Donald Trump to the game, it means he is in charge of making sure Trump's guests had tickets, and more importantly, all the food the former president requested is available. Mayer spoke about Trump's food preferences.
"I like a good steak, but President Trump's food preferences are as mundane as it gets," Mayer said (per AL.com)
Despite having the money to buy any food he wants, Trump has a deep love for fast food. He requested two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches with cheese from McDonald's, stadium hot dogs, Domino's pizza and Diet Coke.
This type of request should not have come as a surprise to Mayers. Donald Trump's love of fast food has been public knowledge since he first ran for president in 2016. At a CNN town hall in 2016, Trump told Anderson Cooper:
"I'm a very clean person. I like cleanliness. I think you're better off going there (referring to fast food restaurants) than someplace that you have no idea where the food is coming from. It's a certain standard. But I think the food is good."
Donald Trump served fast food when he hosted national champions at the white house during his presidency. He paid for the entire Clemson Tigers team to eat McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King in 2019.
Will Donald Trump's attendance affect either team?
College football players and coaches are familiar with having celebrities attend their games. However, having a former president in attendance is not a little different. When Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer was asked about Donald Trump possibly attending the game, he said:
"I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of celebrity-type people here - people that want to come be a part of what's happening on Gameday. Everyone's watching. It'll be great to have everyone who wants to come watch be here."
While DeBoer expressed there is excitement around the game, he emphasized that he is trying to prepare his team normally.
"For us, I told the guys this, with 'Gameday' and everything coming here as well, for the guys, try to take as much off of their plate other than maybe a few extra interviews toward the end of the week," DeBoer said (per Sporting News). The main thing is they get prepared to play the best football game that they've played this year. That's what matters when it comes down to what we can control."
It might be hard for the players to prepare normally with a former president in attendance, but that is what they will try to do. The coaching staff will try to help the players block out the noise and prepare like it is any other game.