“You have a choice between – you don’t have the choice, you’re either given KFC or Big Macs. That’s when you’re lucky, and then the rest of the stuff I consider kind of inedible.”
Reaction to the photograph was swift on social media, with users – including Trump’s own son – pointing out the irony of RFK jnr posing with a McDonald’s meal.
Donald Trump jnr wrote on Instagram “Make America Healthy Again starts TOMORROW,” before jokingly inferring RFK jnr had been “bullied” into eating McDonald’s.
One user added: “RFK’s initiation into the group is to eat every single thing on McDonald’s menu.”
Another user suggested it may have been a power move by Trump after Kennedy criticised his diet.
RFK jnr was particularly critical of McDonald’s during the election campaign.
After Trump made an appearance at McDonald’s during the campaign last month, RFK jnr said the fast food chain should be cooked in beef fat rather than seed oils.
“That was good for you. Your body needs that, it makes you healthy,” Kennedy said on Fox News. “Why aren’t we making it with tallow fat again?”
Following RFK jnr’s nomination as health secretary, stocks in the processed food industry dropped by nearly 3% – the most since October 2023.
Lamb Weston, which supplies french fries to McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A, saw its stocks tumble by a whopping 6% following his nomination.
But he denied wanting to ban fast food, saying it is “part of American culture”.
Trump’s triumphant return to Madison Square Garden, where he held one of his last rallies of the election campaign, was met with scenes of jubilation by fans and fighters alike. The President-elect was led through the arena by Dana White, the UFC’s president, and was followed by Musk, Tulsi Gabbard and RFK jnr – all of whom have been nominated to serve in the Republican’s Cabinet.
Kid Rock, a Trump-supporting rapper who attended the UFC on Saturday, joked he had been appointed “Head of the liquor cabinet” after being asked if he had a “spot” in the President-elect’s Cabinet.
Trump held out his arms when he noticed Joe Rogan, who was on commentating duties at Madison Square Garden.
The President-elect made a beeline for Rogan, giving him an exaggerated hug and tapping him on the shoulder several times.
Jon Jones, widely considered to be the greatest UFC fighter of all time, paid tribute to the President-elect seconds after retaining his heavyweight championship by performing the Republican’s trademark dance and handing Trump his title belt.
Jones also thanked Trump during his victory interview with Rogan before launching a “USA” chant, which was met with cheers and applause in the crowd.
“I’m proud to be a great American champion. I’m proud to be a Christian American champion,” Jones said in his victory speech.
The chant was later carried on by Kid Rock and Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who also flew to the UFC event on Trump’s private plane.
Rogan, who endorsed Trump on the eve of the election, said as he made his way through the arena: “I wish the people at home could hear the sound in this room … it is so loud in here.
“It is always loud when he comes here but now that he’s won, now that he’s the President again … oh my God.”
Rogan had previously been critical of Trump, instead expressing his support for RFK jnr during one of his podcast episodes.
“I love that guy. I love what he’s trying to do with health,” Rogan explained. “This is an issue that we all face and we’re all being poisoned and they’re profiting off of it and we’re not doing s*** about it.
Rogan went on to endorse Trump after RFK jnr dropped out of the race and joined Trump’s campaign.
In Trump’s first speech after winning the election, he said RFK jnr would “help make America healthy again” and would protect Americans from “harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products and food additives”.
A central theme of RFK jnr’s message is the use of pesticides and fertilisers in farming.
“Pesticides, food additives, pharmaceutical drugs and toxic waste permeate every cell in our bodies,” he said at an American health crisis summit in September.
“This assault on our children’s cells and hormones is unrelenting. They are swimming around in a toxic soup ... we are mass poisoning all of our children and all of our adults.”
RFK jnr’s approach to public health is controversial.
Christine Byrne, a dietitian at Ruby Oak Nutrition, told Newsweek his statements were a “massive misrepresentation and oversimplification of science”.
“Saying that children are swimming around in a ‘toxic soup’ is vague, scary and just not true.”
RFK jnr has also been critical of vaccines, although he said they were “not going to be taken away from anybody”.
He previously stated in an interview with Fox News that “autism comes from vaccines”, a widely discredited theory.
