As our 41st President, George H. W. Bush, is laid to his final rest today let it be noted that his hatred of broccoli will not die with him:
“The man couldn't stomach vegetables, especially broccoli. And by the way, he passed these genetic defects along to us.” - George W. Bush, eulogy of his father George H. W. Bush
Indeed, GHWB’s deep-seated hatred goes way back, as reported in the NYT in 1990:
President Bush declared today that he never, ever, wants to see another sprig of broccoli on his plate, whether he is on Air Force One or at the White House or anywhere else in the land.
''I do not like broccoli,'' the President said, responding to queries about a broccoli ban he has imposed aboard Air Force One, first reported this week in U.S. News and World Report. ''And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli!'' –
41 was the last president, until Donald Trump came along, the media excoriated for his dietary habits:
His diet is similar to a teen-ager's, filled with cholesterol-laden goodies. ''Junk food is his lifestyle.''…
The sort of food the President loves can be procured at baseball games, fast-food joints or 7-Elevens: beef jerky, nachos, tacos, guacamole, chile, refried beans, hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecued ribs, candy, popcorn, ice cream and cake.
Even when he eats something healthy, like yogurt or oat bran, he tries to spice it up with Butterfingers or something else to give it a little zip. – NYT, on President Bush, 1990
In other words, he was an everyman.
But the times they were a’changing and broccoli’s fate floated along on their updraft: by 2008 not only was broccoli once again being mandatorily served in the White House, but it was growing wild in Lady M’s Garden of Good and Evil.
From vegetabilis terribilus to vegetabilis mirabilis in less than one generation.
Fortunately for the country, and the world, America did not see fit to seat back-to-back broccoli-loving administrations:
That’s why we elected President Donald J. Trump - who is rumored to share the same veggie hating gene as Bush Sr. and Jr.; so who knows, maybe the two clans are somehow related.
All I know is that the Chinese are currently working on hacking the intersectionality of the broccoli-hating genetic code and Making America Great Again.
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