Donald Trump Commentaries on Chicken and Fish Welfare
From 2004 to 2008, Donald Trump published a syndicated short-form daily radio commentary called Trumped! touching on a variety of topics. There are hours of such expositions on a variety of topics available, but animal welfare was among the topics of interest to the future president. The show’s web site is archived here.
This interest appeared to continue into his presidency, as Trump would tweet in 2017 that elephant hunting is “a horror show,” and in 2019 would hold an official ceremony when he signed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act.
In his December 7, 2004 episode, the businessman remarked: “According to the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, fish have feelings too. Whenever my sons go fishing they always tell me, ‘Dad, it doesn’t hurt a fish to get hooked.’ Well I watch and I see and I believe it’s painful for the fish.”
In his January 27, 2005 commentary on Trumped!, the businessman called customary methods of chicken slaughter “like something right out of the Godfather movies.” The full transcript of his commentary is available here and pasted below:
More Humane Chicken Sandwich
Sadly, no matter how you slice it, there’s no way to make a chicken sandwich without first killing the chicken. But at least one fast food chain is considering a more humane way of slaughtering the poultry that they use for their various sandwiches and nuggets.
The new method, being considered by McDonald’s, would simply replace the oxygen in the chickens’ air with an inert gas such as nitrogen. That way, the chickens would peacefully pass out before going to the great big broiler in the sky. Well, I don’t know if it’s so peaceful. You’ll have to ask them.
It certainly, however, beats the current method that most processors are using where chickens are stunned with an electrical charge before having their throats slit. It actually sounds like something right out of the Godfather movies.
But, you know? After reviewing this whole subject matter, I don’t think I’ll ever have a chicken sandwich again.
Needless to say, Trump wouldn’t go on to adhere to the chicken-free diet he touted in his 2005 commentary, and is instead now known as a president who loves KFC and even declared during the 2024 campaign, “I’m not into the vegan stuff.”
Trump Administration Policies on Animals
After Trump’s electoral victory this past November, I chronicled his first-term actions that both helped and harmed animals, while wondering what a second Trump presidency might bring.
But as far as the specific issues of chicken and fish welfare are concerned, so far, the Trump administration’s actions haven’t aligned with these animal-sympathetic comments from twenty years ago.
For example, the new administration is now working to make permanent faster permissible line speeds at chicken and pig slaughterhouses. It’s also opening a protected marine monument to commercial fishing.
That said, the second Trump administration has embraced some important animal-friendly policies, including positive actions against animal experimentation at both the FDA and EPA.
It’s always hard to tell how much of what happens in any administration comes as a directive from the president or simply the policies of the executive agency heads. But it’s quite interesting and revelatory that Donald Trump himself has actually thought and spoken in the past about animal welfare issues like the treatment of animals used food.
