Donald Trump’s love of McDonald’s is widely known. In 2019, he served a buffet of burgers from the fast food chain to Clemson University’s football team during their visit to the White House after winning the national championship. And during the 2024 campaign, he briefly worked the drive-thru window as part of his campaign (something the company quickly said it did not facilitate). But despite that loyalty, he has some things he wants changed.
Speaking at the McDonald’s Impact Summit 2025 in Washington, D.C., Trump lobbied for changes to the Filet-O-Fish sandwich.
“I like the fish. I like it. You could do a little bit more tartar sauce, so please,” he said. Sure, he could request more, but he said he hates to ask for that.
Despite the constructive criticism, Trump professed his love for the chain — noting he had even convinced Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to eat a Big Mac. He added that Big Macs and Quarter Pounders are regular in-flight meals on his presidential plane.
“I’m also one of your all-time most loyal customers,” Trump said. “Well, other politicians fly around on campaign planes stocked with expensive catering, when Trump Force One — prior to ascending to Air Force One, which is quite a nice plane also — we served only McDonald’s almost every time.”
While inaccurately touting lower food prices (chicken, bacon, ground beef and orange juice, staple products at McDonald’s, all cost more today than they did a year ago), Trump praised McDonald’s for dropping menu prices. The chain found itself compelled to do so as a defensive move in 2024 following consumer complaints that the chain had become too expensive. Customers had griped about $8 chicken sandwiches and $18 Big Mac meals, coining the phrase “McFlation.”
McDonald’s CEO Joe Erlinger addressed that in a public letter countering what he called the “viral social posts and poorly sourced reports that McDonald’s has raised prices significantly beyond inflationary rates.”
