Trump reportedly refused a vegan charity challenge: 'If I lose even one brain cell, we're f---ed'

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Looks like former President Donald Trump is a carnivore through and through — but not for exactly the reasons you might think.

According to ex-Trump Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham's new administration tell-all I'll Take Your Questions Now: My Time in the Trump White House, Trump once denied a challenge to go vegan for charity because he worried it would mess with his brain function.

The challenger, a young boy who appealed to the president in TV ads and highway billboards, represented a charity who would donate $1 million to veterans if Trump agreed to remove animal products from his diet. Grisham, who was communications director at the time, said she "playfully asked the president if he would ever consider doing that," according to an excerpt of the book obtained by Politico. "I knew he loved his steaks and cheeseburgers, but one month didn't seem that long," she wrote.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Trump apparently responded seriously and quickly: "No, no. It messes with your body chemistry, your brain," per Grisham. "And if I lose even one brain cell, we're f---ed."

You can say that again. Read more at Politico.

Explore More
Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.