Monday night, Chicago hosted the annual James Beard Foundation Awards — the Oscars of the restaurant world — and Chicago’s outgoing mayor Rahm Emanuel focused less on fine dining in his final speech to the food elite and more on President Donald Trump.
Speaking to the Beard Foundation audience, Emanuel chastised Trump for his plebeian taste in cuisine, lashing out at the president over his penchant for McDonalds’ and criticizing Trump for serving fast food at two White House banquets for college athletes.
“Rahm Emanuel delivered his final speech of his mayoral term at the gala and took the opportunity to rip President Donald Trump. Emanuel referred to Trump’s practice of serving fast food to championship sports teams,” Eater reported.
“Fast food does not belong at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” Emanuel said, addressing Trump directly. “And besides that you don’t belong at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”
Emanuel later added that he made the comments without regard for the “public’s perception,” since he’s just a few short weeks away from leaving office and is now on a “farewell tour.”
Trump, a noted fan of fried chicken and cheeseburgers, served a fast food buffet to the national champion Clemson football team back in January when the government was in a partial showdown. The spread featured food from McDonald’s and Wendy’s which Trump paid for out of his own pocket, and apparently delighted the players, who are on strict diets during football season.
The buffet setup went over so well with the college athletes that Trump repeated the performance with two other championship sports teams. But while the college students may have enjoyed the decidedly downmarket feast, leftists were left scandalized by what they considered lowbrow fare. Rahm Emanuel was clearly no exception.
Luckily, Trump isn’t one to take advice from Emanuel on much of anything, let alone cuisine. Unfortunately for Emanuel, fairly soon, few people will be angling for his advice.
After facing down financial problems in Chicago, Emanuel is leaving office as an unpopular mayor — in fact, Emanuel could have competed for a third term but chose to leave office, perhaps suspecting he wasn’t going to survive another election. On his way out, the Chicago Tribune reports, Emanuel is on a mission to rehabilitate his image, countering allegations that he was a “1% mayor” who focused more on Chicago’s wealthy than on Chicago’s needy.
Former city official Lori Lightfoot will replace Emanuel, becoming the first openly gay mayor of Chicago and the city’s first African-American female leader. Lightfoot ran as an outsider to the Chicago Democratic machine and, while she served under Emanuel, is less connected to Democrats currently in office than her opponents for the job. This week, Lightfoot has been on an introductory tour in Washington, D.C., meeting members of both parties. Tuesday, she spent time with both Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and White House advisor Ivanka Trump.