Even in these troubling geopolitical times, there’s still room to find a little humour amongst the bluster and polarising posturing.
If you can bear to forget about policy and culture wars for a moment, it’s fun to take a look at the strange dietary preferences of some of the world’s most powerful people.
Where President Donald Trump and former-President Joe Biden are concerned, the gulf in their eating habits is almost as wide as the gulf in their political views.
Keen to compare them and their effects on his body, TikToker Bennett Rea decided to give each President’s diets a go, just for a day.
Posting to his account @cookinwithcongress – “Real recipes. Real politicians. Real nasty.” – Rea’s got a long history of detailing the freaky eating habits of various US politicians.
During the 2024 presidential campaigns, it was time to put Biden and Trump’s preferences to the test.
During the Trump day, he started the day with four cans of Diet Coke.
Packed to the gills with nutrition-free pop, he then moved on to a packet of crisps and washed it down with another Diet Coke.
After that, it was a well-done steak with ketchup, a side salad and dressing complemented with, you guessed it, another can of Diet Coke.
Then it was on to dinner: two Big Macs, two Filet-o-Fish burgers, a small chocolate shake – gotta watch those calories! – and another Diet Coke for good measure.
Unsurprisingly, this car crash of a meal plan left Rea with an upset stomach. He said he was “pretty scared” about how the next morning might treat him after his body had processed all of that junk.
He told the Daily Mail that the Trump day made him feel “hungover” the next day, and he had to take half a day off to recuperate.
“I don't understand how someone in their 60s, 70s or 80s can eat like Donald Trump for a full day," he said.
"It was getting too close to a 'Supersize Me' experiment and a feeling of ‘I won't do this for more than a day because I have health concerns’.”
It’s safe to say that Trump must be built different. The day’s intake consisted of 4,400mg of salt across 3,200 calories. If you’re getting heartburn at the thought of it, you’re not alone.
After that, it was on to Joe Biden’s diet. The day’s meal plan amounted to 2,600 calories but conversely left Rea feeling “bored as hell”.
Breakfast on Biden day consisted of a bowl of Special K and an orange Gatorade, with snacks through the day including protein bars, Fig Newtons, and more Gatorade.
Lunch amounts to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, “like a child”, with an apple on the side and some more Gatorade. Mr President needed those electrolytes, it seems.
Dinner rounded things out with angel hair pasta – “the most unlikeable of pastas” – and a dessert of vanilla chocolate-chip ice cream.
While Biden’s diet didn’t inflict the same physical malaise as Trump’s, Rea reported a spiritual one instead: “bored”.
Featured Image Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Rachael Davis