Hot Dog! Mitt Romney Listed His Favorite Meats, and People Are Horrified

Some politicians have a natural gift for communication, and some don’t

Mitt Romney is being mocked today for an odd aside about his favorite meats, in which he assured voters that his favorite type of meat is the humble hot dog.

From a Washington Examiner profile:

“My favorite meat is hot dog, by the way. That is my favorite meat,” he told a gathering of supporters as they joined him recently for a casual dinner organized by his campaign. “My second favorite meat is hamburger. And, everyone says, oh, don’t you prefer steak? It’s like, I know steaks are great, but I like hot dog best, and I like hamburger next best.”

Romney endeared himself, somewhat, to Trump opponents when he denounced Trump in a speech that included the lines, “dishonesty is Donald Trump’s hallmark” and “There’s plenty of evidence that Mr. Trump is a con man, a fake.” But the temporary Romney fans of 2016 said his embrace of hot dogs and eschewing of steak seemed, if not fake, at least a little heavy handed.

President Trump, of course, is known to love steak, with ketchup. Was Romney, who is worth $250 million, trying to cast himself as a common man compared to the president, whose net worth is a black-box mystery? Romney launched his current campaign to represent Utah in the Senate with shots at Trump, so despite that infamous dinner with Trump about the possibility of Romney becoming secretary of state, they don’t seem to be on the same page.

And what did they eat at that dinner? Neither steak nor hot dogs, according to a statement provided to reporters at the time. They didn’t even compromise and have Romney’s second-favorite meat, hamburger.

Sadly, they had to content themselves with “young garlic soup with thyme and sautéed frog legs, and diver scallops with caramelized cauliflower and caper-raisin emulsion as appetizers,” CNN reported.

Just regular-guy food.

Here are a few Twitter reactions to Romney’s embrace of hot dogs:

https://twitter.com/owillis/status/992453322538999809

https://twitter.com/GMPaiella/status/992422243710971906

https://twitter.com/kath_krueger/status/992407717905039360

Comments