And no, we don’t mean the Grammy-winning vocalist behind such hit mini-rock operas as “I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)“ and “Paradise By The Dashboard Light,” although that is a very funny joke that no one has ever thought of before. Instead, we refer to the dish invented by the ancient Romans and used for centuries as a way to reduce food waste by smashing leftover scraps of meat into mushy, lightly seasoned loaves.
Once a beloved plebian foodstuff, the humble meatloaf has now become the unwitting pawn in Donald Trump’s latest passive-aggressive power play. As The Boston Globe reports, our not-at-all-insecure 45th president had New Jersey governor Chris Christie over to the White House for lunch on Tuesday, and after telling the assembled party that they could order anything they wanted off of the White House menu, he turned to Christie and said, “Chris, you and I are going to have the meatloaf.’’ Here’s Christie telling the story on New York sports talk radio yesterday:
As Christie’s co-hosts—who, being sports talk-radio hosts and all, are presumably familiar with macho bullshit—point out, the gesture could be interpreted as emasculating. That’s up for debate, but what it certainly is a petty display of dominance. In fact, it brings to mind another toxic white male currently experiencing a cultural moment, Christian Grey from the Fifty Shades Of Grey series, who insists on choosing what breathy would-be submissive Anastasia Steele eats as a way of establishing his control over her. Not that Trump has anything in common with Christian Grey besides the “control freak“ thing, of course. In fact, we apologize for putting that image into your heads.
Anyway, you know Trump poured tons of ketchup all over his meatloaf. He’s got the temperament of an eight-year-old, so it only makes sense that he’d have the palate of one, too.