Trump official baffles with bizarre food take for World Cup travelers: 'This is real?'
The internet was stunned Thursday when a Trump administration official declared that World Cup visitors could have the "extraordinary" experience of sitting in a car and eating fast food while talking on the phone.
NATO Ambassador Matthew Whitaker made the stunning statement about people enjoying the "real America" during a Fox News interview, The Daily Beast reported. Whitaker joined "Fox & Friends," and host Brian Kilmeade asked what foreign visitors had thought of America so far.
"People are enjoying the United States of America because it’s an awesome place, and we have extraordinary things like Buc-ee’s, like Chick-fil-A ... just some very convenient places to eat in your car as you’re having a phone call," Whitaker said.
"It’s an amazing country, and I’m glad that people are finally, uh, you know, kind of discovering what real America is," he added. "You know, being from Des Moines, Iowa, obviously, uh, I like it when they see places outside of New York and Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles."
Social media commentators mocked Whitaker's comments.
"I can’t be the only one who’s embarrassed, right?" Kai Ryssdal, host and senior editor of "Marketplace," wrote on Bluesky.
"Hilarious. Wait, are you saying this is real? Wow," global advisor and urban planner Brent Toderian wrote on Bluesky.
"(Trying to talk up America): uh you can go to a KFC and call your mom from the parking lot," pokey pup, a political commentary account with more than 23,000 followers, wrote on X.
"Reminder that all of the US World Cup host cities have Democratic mayors. The visitors are enjoying the blue cities Republicans continually lie about," Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of Campaign for New York Health, wrote on X.
"It’s telling that the greatest cultural icons he could think of are a gas station and a fast food restaurant. These are also the same people who claim immigrants are diluting American culture," Turnbull, a liberal commentator with more than 39,000 followers, wrote on X.
I can’t be the only one who’s embarrassed, right?
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— Kai Ryssdal (@kairyssdal.bsky.social) July 2, 2026 at 7:00 AM