It’s customary that whatever team wins a national championship for their sport, the president invites them to visit the White House in celebration. Usually, the White House has a whole meal for the team but this year the NCAA Football Champions, the Clemson Tigers, got fast food.
On Jan. 7, the Tigers won a hard game against the University of Alabama with a score of 44-16. This marked their second national championship in three years. Their first trip to the White House happened almost five months after the championship game. This year, it was only a week after the game. When the team walked into the White House, they were greeted with a buffet of fast food. Usually, the teams who visit get a meal prepared by the White House kitchen staff but because of the partial government shutdown, there was not enough staff to create a meal. My question is, why not just wait?
Obviously, this shutdown will not last forever, so Trump could easily wait for the shutdown to end so that this team can get the meal that they deserve. Trump said: “I had a choice…Do we have no food for you?… Or do we give you some little quick salads that the First Lady will make, along with the Second Lady-they’ll make some salads. No, I said, you guys aren’t into salads.” Why couldn’t have he waited for the shutdown to end? It’s not like he didn’t wait the last time the Tigers went to the White House. Is this some sort of weird propaganda for ending this shutdown? Trump did mention to the press that there were no kitchen workers because of the shutdown. Either way, a national championship team shouldn’t have to deal with this. Trump did also say that he paid for everything out of his own pocket, but that amounted to under $3,000.
According to the Washington Post, the players were happy to see a full fast food feast, especially after many months of watching what they ate. The team worked with culinary coaches so that they can stay in good health during the football season, but they were able to take a break for that night. So everything technically worked out, but I still would’ve waited until I was able to have a whole spread for the team. It was a nice gesture that he paid for the entire team to eat dinner at the White House, but it was highly unusual that there was such a fast turnaround. He should have waited until the government was back up and running.
