Donald Trump vs. Jennings Osborne (Food Edition)
I seldom ever discuss politics on my blog, and quite frankly I don't even think I'm really discussing politics in this particular post. I'm really just discussing common sense, decency, and respect. As you may be aware, earlier this month, Clemson University football players were invited to the White House after becoming national champions. Now, one would think that the President of the United States would gather together the best chefs in all the nations and have them make a feast worthy of gods and champions.
President Donald Trump, in the same room in which a portrait of Abraham Lincoln is looking down upon him, presented a feast of fast food, consisting of McDonald's, Wendy's, Domino's pizza, and the like. He looked extremely proud of himself, talking about how he paid for the meal (a meal which even the most broke college student could probably afford every now and then) out of his own pocket during the government shutdown. And the college players, in their finest attire, walked into the White House and got free fast food.
I've been reading and watching reactions to this... event... for the past several days. Most people seem to be against the current President placing a stack of Big Macs on the same table as a candelabra. There seem to be at least a few pro-Trump people out there saying that what he did was amazing, and that anyone who says he should have given the players something else other than fast food is an elitist.
This whole event reminded me of another rich man named Jennings Osborne. You may not know of him, but I certainly did since I partially grew up in Arkansas (before eventually moving to Florida). Not quite as infamous as Donald Trump (I believe he was a little more introverted and less brand-naming than Trump), but he was an Arkansan entrepreneur who gained his riches from a medical research company. His claims to fame included two other main things; one, he had an amazingly beautiful and mammoth Christmas light display (which lead to a legal battle and eventually moving the lights to Disney World).
Jennings Osborne's other claim to fame were his frequent BBQs, which he did for the benefit of many groups, including but not limited to the local police, firemen, and Boy Scouts. Growing up I was heavily involved in the Boy Scouts (eventually made it to Eagle!) One time I attended an event called Merit Badge University, and the Osborne family came over and provided all of us Scouts an amazing BBQ lunch. We got a giant plate which included (but was not limited to) an entire chicken! There was also large portions of pork, beef, coleslaw, and so on.
Thinking about this, I realized that I, as an adolescent Boy Scout that was still years away from reaching the rank of Eagle, was treated to a better meal (and with more respect) than a group of championship football players invited to the White House!
The only thing that Trump and Osborne really seem to have in common was financial wealth and entrepreneurship. Jennings Osborne wasn't fame seeking, seldom spoke, keeping his words to a minimum, as far as I know he never had political aspirations, and seems to have had much better taste in food. I imagine that if Jennings Osborne were still alive today, and if he was in the White House, that he would have made sure that those football champions had a very worthy dinner.
President Donald Trump, in the same room in which a portrait of Abraham Lincoln is looking down upon him, presented a feast of fast food, consisting of McDonald's, Wendy's, Domino's pizza, and the like. He looked extremely proud of himself, talking about how he paid for the meal (a meal which even the most broke college student could probably afford every now and then) out of his own pocket during the government shutdown. And the college players, in their finest attire, walked into the White House and got free fast food.
I've been reading and watching reactions to this... event... for the past several days. Most people seem to be against the current President placing a stack of Big Macs on the same table as a candelabra. There seem to be at least a few pro-Trump people out there saying that what he did was amazing, and that anyone who says he should have given the players something else other than fast food is an elitist.
This whole event reminded me of another rich man named Jennings Osborne. You may not know of him, but I certainly did since I partially grew up in Arkansas (before eventually moving to Florida). Not quite as infamous as Donald Trump (I believe he was a little more introverted and less brand-naming than Trump), but he was an Arkansan entrepreneur who gained his riches from a medical research company. His claims to fame included two other main things; one, he had an amazingly beautiful and mammoth Christmas light display (which lead to a legal battle and eventually moving the lights to Disney World).
Jennings Osborne's other claim to fame were his frequent BBQs, which he did for the benefit of many groups, including but not limited to the local police, firemen, and Boy Scouts. Growing up I was heavily involved in the Boy Scouts (eventually made it to Eagle!) One time I attended an event called Merit Badge University, and the Osborne family came over and provided all of us Scouts an amazing BBQ lunch. We got a giant plate which included (but was not limited to) an entire chicken! There was also large portions of pork, beef, coleslaw, and so on.
Thinking about this, I realized that I, as an adolescent Boy Scout that was still years away from reaching the rank of Eagle, was treated to a better meal (and with more respect) than a group of championship football players invited to the White House!
The only thing that Trump and Osborne really seem to have in common was financial wealth and entrepreneurship. Jennings Osborne wasn't fame seeking, seldom spoke, keeping his words to a minimum, as far as I know he never had political aspirations, and seems to have had much better taste in food. I imagine that if Jennings Osborne were still alive today, and if he was in the White House, that he would have made sure that those football champions had a very worthy dinner.
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