Why Donald Trump Was So Particular About His Ketchup In The White House
Former President Donald Trump is known for his strong, outspoken opinions on just about anything and anyone, and apparently, condiments are no exception. According to former White House aide and Trump whistleblower Cassidy Hutchinson, who visited "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in October 2023, Trump was incredibly particular about the type of ketchup he ate.
But his strict rules on condiments didn't stem from a Heinz vs. Hunt's preference. Hutchinson explained that the former president only used ketchup from small, unopened, glass Heinz ketchup bottles due to his "very potent fear of being poisoned. He likes to hear his valet or whoever's serving him his meal, he likes to hear the pop [of the lid opening]."
Trump's ketchup preference is one of the former president's many peculiarities around food, drinks, and even non-food items, like his toothbrush. In each instance, his strict rules can be traced back to an underlying fear of an unseen poison attack.
Donald Trump's fear of being poisoned has contributed to many of his eating habits
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson is not the first person to disclose former President Donald Trump's unusual food habits. Trump's anxiety around getting poisoned has been well-documented over the years and has contributed to his equally well-documented, legendary love affair with fast food. Michael Wolff, author of "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," wrote in his book that Trump's poison phobia led to his love of McDonald's.
"One reason why he liked to eat at McDonald's — nobody knew he was coming, and the food was safely premade," Wolff wrote (via Business Insider). Trump reiterated his views on premade, standardized food to CNN's Anderson Cooper in 2016, saying: "One bad hamburger, you can destroy McDonald's. One bad hamburger and you take Wendy's and all these other places, and they're out of business. I like cleanliness, and I think you're better off going there than maybe someplace that you have no idea where the food is coming from."
Trump's ex-campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, touched on Trump's eating habits in his book, "Let Trump Be Trump," which detailed the former president's airplane snack stockpile of chips, pretzels, and Vienna Fingers. Trump's team also kept several Oreos packages onboard because Trump refused to eat the sandwich cookies if the package had been opened previously (via The Washington Post).
The former president asks his staff to go to great lengths to ensure his safety
Former President Donald Trump's fear of poisoning extends beyond what he typically eats in a day, too. In addition to his preference for pre-made food, Trump reportedly gave his cleaning staff strict instructions while they cared for his living quarters. According to Michael Wolff's book "Fire and Fury," Trump forbade his cleaning staff from touching his toothbrush, stripping his bed linens, and picking up dirty clothes from the floor.
Sometimes, Trump's anxieties centered around food even when there was no poison involved. Trump told his security to "knock the crap out of" attendees at a campaign rally whom Trump believed were planning to throw tomatoes at him. When asked at a 2021 deposition why he said this, he replied, "You get hit with fruit, it's — no, it's very violent stuff." The president reaffirmed that he would allow his security to use physical force "to stop somebody from throwing pineapples, tomatoes, bananas, stuff like that, yeah. It's dangerous stuff" (via Vanity Fair).
Of course, it stands to reason that one might go the extra mile to protect themselves if they're one of the world's most well-known and divisive public figures. Is demanding a stockpile of unopened, fun-size ketchups one of the stranger protective measures Trump's kitchen staff has to do? Perhaps. But hey — to-may-to, to-mah-to, right?