--- title: "RFK Jr. Grimaces While Eating McDonald’s With Donald Trump, Elon Musk" description: "RFK Jr. -- a huge critic of fast food -- has been spotted snacking on McDonald's with Donald Trump and Elon Musk." date: "2024-11-18" modified: "2024-11-18" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/rfk-jr-mcdonalds" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "donald trump" - "politics" - "rfk jr" - "the digest" --- # RFK Jr. Grimaces While Eating McDonald’s With Donald Trump, Elon Musk ![RFK Jr. -- a huge critic of fast food -- has been spotted snacking on McDonald's with Donald Trump and Elon Musk.]() *\Image: Donald Trump Jr.\* ## Say Cheese Donald Trump's Health Department pick, a political scion and alleged fast food hater, has been photographed with fare from McDonald's, an exemplar of overprocessed restaurant fare in America. In a [photo posted on X](), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was seen sitting on a private jet with the president-elect, his eldest son Don Jr., and Elon Musk — each with trays of food from the Golden Arches. "Make America Healthy Again starts TOMORROW," boasted Trump, Jr., who made the post. https://www.twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1858136498530374074 ## Heart Health Curiously, this photo op comes less than a week after the Health and Human Services nominee [opined publicly]() about Trump's unhealthy plane food. "The stuff that he eats is really, like, bad," Kennedy [told marketing podcaster Joe Polish](). "Campaign food is always bad, but the food that goes onto that airplane is like just poison." "You’re either given KFC or Big Macs," the former presidential contender continued. "That’s when you’re lucky, and then the rest of the stuff I consider kind of inedible." Indeed, in the photo posted by Trump Jr., Kennedy's smile does seem more like an inscrutable grimace as he holds what appears to be a Big Mac box. ## Humiliation Ritual The irony of the photo wasn't lost on observers online. "RFK Jr. essentially being hazed here with the McDonalds," [posted *CNN*'s Andrew Kaczynski](). Another user, meanwhile, offered up a more sober take. "It's actually pretty dark they made RFK Jr eat McDonalds," [writer Matt Dinan posted](). "I mean, he deserves it, but any principles you might hold are only sources of potential abjection." Notably, the photo was posted just a few days after the [*New York Times* published]() a detailed look into Kennedy's forthcoming fight against the junk food industry — a fight that he clearly is not winning on the personal front with the president-elect, as the photographic evidence shows. At the end of the day, Kennedy's physical flip-flopping on fast food is probably less salient than, say, his [antagonistic stance on vaccines]() — but unfortunately for the rest of us, his GOP overlords [seem to have no issue with that one](). **More on RFK Jr.:** [*Trump’s Top Pick for Health Secretary Being Investigating for Mutilating Dead Animal*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()